Jewish But in this as for the Synagogue-Discipline and Worship of the Jews I am prevented by what has been said before and the Parallel must have manifestly appear'd betwixt the Bishop Priest and Deacon and between the Chief of the Sanhedrim or Synagogue the Elders and their Ministerial Officers For as every City had its Consistory in that manner Officer'd with the Jews so had it with the Christians though with no Subordination to any other higher Court as at Jerusalem in as much as that Local Dependance was now abolish'd The Chief of the Consistory with the Jews was either the Prince or his Deputy the Father of the Assembly Now the Title of Prince was I suppose in the Christian Church every where appropriated to Christ and the Bishop was as the Father in whom the Principal Directive Power was lodged The other Elders were his Councellors and Assistants in the Governing and Teaching of the Assembly and the Deacons had the management of Affairs Execution of Orders and Distribution of Alms belonging to their part as is notoriously known Thus was a Christian Church govern'd conformably to the Synagogue as a Society it was likewise as a Congregation The Instruction and Exhortation belong'd to the Bishop or else by his leave to the Presbyters or it was perform'd by such other proper Person as the Bishop should appoint Likewise Prayers were said either by the Bishop or Presbyters or else by the Deacons For these last answering the Jewish Chazans directed the People in their Devotions either repeating the Prayers before them or calling upon them to hearken to those repeated by others and also either Read the holy Scriptures or assisted those who were to Read them Neither do the Elders of a Christian and a Jewish Church agree only so far but farther yet For as the Jewish Elders since the Destruction of Jerusalem have thought fit to assume to themselves much of the Sacerdotal Honour and Privilege so have the Christian succeeded into the like Dignity nay are call'd by the same Name as we have seen in Tertullian's expression (h) See Ch. 6. §. 1. The High Priest who is the Bishop and as he phrases it discoursing about those Hereticks who making little distinction between the People and the Church Officers committed Sacerdotal Offices to the Laiety i and as we may in general have collected even from the discretive Appellatives themselves of Laiety and Clergy But the Elders of the Christian Church derive not those their style and Privileges from the Calamities of Jerusalem and the Usurpation of the Rabbins nor are they esteem'd Priests in vertue of their Presbytery though the English word Priest happens to come by the French Prestre from the Latin Presbyter On the contrary by Original appointment a Christian Priest corresponds as directly to a Priest of the Jews as a Presbyter does to their Elder or rather to speak more generally the Bishops Priests and Deacons of the Gospel answer not more to the Officers of the Sanhedrim or Synagogue than they do to those of the Temple to the High Priest or as we conceive his Great Vicar to the Priests and to the Levites For this is not only intimated by the Sacerdotal Titles the Governours of the Church immemorially had as we learn'd from Tertullian but plainly declar'd by their Office and all along allow'd and own'd by more Antient Authors They having as hath appear'd an Eucharistical Sacrifice still remaining to be celebrated by them a Pure Offering to be offer'd in every place and every where Holy Tables or Altars erected for that Service And this is what St. Jerom has said much to our purpose in that Letter of his which has been often miscited to the Prejudice of Episcopacy (k) Ad Eâ—â—gâ— And says he that you may understand the Ecclesiastical Traditions to be deriv'd from the Old Testament we are to know what Aaron and his Sons were in the Temple that Bishops Priests and Deacons are to challenge to themselves in the Church This Remembrance of St. Jerome was we see well founded and is if I mistake not attested by the structure of an Antient Christian Church such of which we have been speaking before (l) Ch. 6. §. 1 3. For whereas the first four Partitions of it wherein the Laiety were dispos'd have been seen to answer to the four first Courts of the Temple beyond which none but those of the Tribe of Levi ordinarily could go there yet remain two other Partitions the places heretofore of our Clergy to answer to the two remaining Courts of the Priests and of the Altar For so that part E Fig. 2. of a Christian Church which is next beyond the Upper Place of the Faithful now call'd the Quire D and reaches to the Rails of the Altar space stil'd by the Western Church Presbyterium and by the Greek Solea m where the Readers are said to have had a place n corresponds aptly enough with the Court of the Temple where the Priests stood who were not actually on Duty and where the Doukans Desks of the Singers were likewise placed (o) Lightf T. Service Ch. 23. And then the Higher space F Fig. 2. inclosed with Rails or Lattice where the Lord's Table or Christian Altar G stands apparently agrees to the Court of the Altar in the Temple F. Fig. 1. which was fenc'd in like manner And possibly the rais'd Seat T behind the Altar as the Archiepiscopal Chair at Canterbury now is where the Bishop sat with the Chief of the Clergy on either side answer not only to the Seats of the Elders in a Synagogue (p) Ch. 6. §. 3. but to the Place where the High Priest stood compassed with his Brethren round about as a young Cedar in Libanus by the Palm Trees (q) Eccles 50.12 either at the Altar it self G Fig. 1. or in the Porch H which was as high and from whence after the Burning of the Incense the Blessing was pronounc'd (r) Iâ—â—juf Ib Ch. 36. Maim de Cult Diâ—â— Tract 6. Câ—p. 6. §. 4. And this concerning the Agreement of the upper part of a Church with the upper Courts of the Temple I have added on this Argument not so much to confirm the Sacerdotal Title of Christian Priests for that seems to be otherwise sufficiently secur'd as to complete the Parallel already begun in the sixth Chapter and by which a new account is offer'd of the Modelling of these Christian Aedifices I know Architects derive the Design of our Churches from the Fabricks of the Heathen Basilicae or Publick Halls (Å¿) Pallad lib. 4. c. 5. lib. 3. c. 19. the upper end of which was rais'd and had a Semicircle in which Governours and Judges sat for Audience having before them a Table as we may presume and a space separated and Raild in and beyond that without the Bar a place something lower where those stood who attended the Court the remaining and lowest part of the Hall being open to
when he says (d) Hebr. 13.10 11 c. We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the Tabernacle for they eat not of the Oblation made for their Sins as we do of our Blessed Saviour by whom by whose Body and in whose Name we offer the Sacrifice of Praise Thanksgiving to God continually that is the Fruit or Oblation of our Lips or which our Lips have Vowed to return as well as what we do return with our Li ceasing not to do Good and to Distribute both out of our Oblations and the rest of our Substance for with such Sacrifices such Offerings of our Praise and Goods in the general and at the Eucharist in particular God is well pleased § I. d Of this I needed not have given an Instance but there is one that will likewise serve to another purpose De Coron Cap. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum in tempore Victus Omnibus mandatum à Domino etiam Antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quam Praesidentium sumimus e The word is often us'd even in one Chapter the 34th of his Fourth Book Adversus Haeres and I shall give but one Instance in that fam'd Passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Just Mart. Apol. secunda uti vulgo numeratur prope finem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the Oblation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likewise do g Examples will appeat in those Passages to be produc'd in the next Chap § 2. i Tertullian Apolog. Cap. 39. Coena nostra de nomine rationem sui oftendit Id vocatur quod Dilectio penes Graecos k Epist ad Smyrnaeos After a general prohibition against the doing any thing in the Church without the Bishop and after a particular mention of the Eucharist there follows further 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 m This Order of Oblation and Invocation is not only to be seen in the Antient Liturgies but is plainly express'd by that Antient and Venerable Author Irenaeus in the Chapter above-cited e § III. d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maim de Cult Divino Tract 5.9.5 e Nehem. 12.31 Then I brought up the Princes of Judah upon the Wall and appointed two great Companies of them that gave Thanks Whereof one went upon the right hand of the Wall c. By this Procession the Jews suppose the Bounds of the Holy City to have been determin'd and that the Bread of Thanksgiving which was not to be carried out of Jerusalem was therefore carried about now to mark its utmost Limits And accordingly by two great Thanks as it is in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they understand two great oblations of Bread of Thanks making the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the whole Sacrifice of Thanks to stand here for the Bread only and that only the Leaven'd So Rabbi Salom on the place And Maim in the Book above mention'd Tract 1. Cap. 6. § 12. § IV. a I confess that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in t is Case where we translate it a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving is rendred most commonly in the Greek of the Septuagint so call'd by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and never by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But it is notorious that the sence is the same Neither do they always interpret that word by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but on the fame subject they once put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levit. 22.29 and in another place we shall meet in the next Section Jerem. 33.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Name by which our Christian Sacrament is also known The truth is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is found in the Septuagint in no sense but it is frequent in the Apocrypha and in the New Testament and Aquila in his Translation of Amos 4.5 uses it for this very matter CHAP. VIII § I. The Distinction of Clergy and Laiety specified by Tertullian That of Bishops Priests and Deacons by Him Irenaeus also being his Leader for the Apostolical Authority of Bishops § II. And by Ignatius as the other at least of the Laiety and Clergy by St. Clemens of Rome § III. The First Distinction deriv'd from the Language of the Old Testament The Offices of the Second from those of the Jewish Sanhedrim and likewise of the Temple the Upper parts of our Churches being also suppos'd to answer the Temple Courts of the Priests and the Altar § I. WE come next to the Officers of the Christian Church expressed in the Scripture under general Names and which answer'd sufficiently to those us'd by the Jews but whose signification was not in some Cases so well distinguish'd as to make out the Parallel exactly Now the Writings of the Primitive Christians speak on these occasions more expresly and clear up the Confusion caus'd by ambiguous words determining their sense by such a distinction of Offices as had all along obtain'd from the days of the Apostles Certain it is from what we have already seen of Tertullian that in his time at the end of the Second Century the Offices of Bishop and Presbyter and Deacon were the principal Offices of the Church and notoriously Distinct The Power says he (a) Ch. 6. §. 1. c of Conferring Baptism the High Priest hath who is the Bishop then the Priests and Deacons but not without the Authority of the Bishop to keep up the Honour of the Church without which Peace cannot be preserv'd otherwise even the Laiety have a power to do it Now whatever becomes of the controversy of Baptism by Lay hands it is manifest from our Author that there was a Distinction of the Laiety and the Clergy b and among the Clergy between the Bishop and the Priests and Deacons and that the Bishop had a singular supereminent Authority over the Presbyters as well as the Deacons And that he understood this separate Authority to have been deriv'd from the hands of the Apostles is as plain from his Treatise of Prescribing against Hereticks (c) De Praeser ◠32. There to Bar some Heresies which were as old as the Apostles from pleading that they were taught by the Apostles he bids them Shew the Origine of their Churches and deduce a series of their Bishops with such a continued Succession from the beginning as that the first Bishop of them may have some Apostle or Apostolical Man who continued in the Communion of the Apostles to vouch for his Author and Predecessor For so the Apostolical Churches bring down their Pedegree as the Church of Smyrna reckons Polycarp placed there by St. John and the Church of Rome Clemens ordain'd by St. Peter and as other Churches name those who were made Bishops by the Apostles and to whom the Seed of the Apostolical Doctrine was transmitted This is Tertullian's Opinion and as it appears from his manner of delivering it was the general acknowledg'd Opinion of that Time But on the same Argument Irenaeus
are to read such a one as that Minister is suppos'd to be to whom our Saviour when he had clos'd the Book gave it again And this Minister has commonly under him another Servant of the Synagogue a Sacristan who looks to it and keeps all things safe and clean § VII TO these Civil and Religious Officers of the Jewish Synagogue Deacons I suppose are answerable Bishops and Deacons or Presbyters and Deacons being join'd together in the New Testament as Judges and Officers were in the old Now in the Christian Use the word Deacon or Minister is very differently applied according as the Services are different in which he is imploy'd Our Saviour is the Minister of Circumcision (a) Rom. 15.8 a King the Minister of God (b) Rom. 13.14 And the Apostles Ministers of Christ (c) 1 Cor. 4.1 But a Minister or Deacon absolutely so call'd in the New Testament is an Officer under the Bishop or Presbyter and the first appointed were the seven (d) Act. 6. Ordain'd by the Apostles with Imposition of hands These were Men of Honest Report who were to ease the Apostles of the Administration of the Charitable Revenue of the Church not to be Gatherers of the Basket I suppose or Servers of Tables for that the Apostles sure did not do before but to be Treasurers and Superintendants such as were the Seven of the Temple or the Goodmen above-mention'd of a City For though the Greek word for Ministring does sometimes signify to wait and serve at a Table yet as we just now noted it is by no means restrain'd to that low sense but is said as well of the Office of our Blessed Lord and of his Apostles and also of Kings that is of any the Noblest Administrations and may therefore answer the word Parnas in its Highest meaning Neither is it at all necessary that the Office of a Deacon should be wholly Oeconomical because it was first erected in the Christian Church on that occasion While the whole Church was yet but as one Family under the immediate Government of the Apostles and they had not yet Created any other Officers the first Officers were indeed instituted upon the first emergent want and were order'd then especially to take care of that and to manage the publick expence but they were also to be as we may well suppose subservient to the Apostles in other administrations and to Publish and Execute all their Orders For the Qualification of them was to be full of the Holy Ghost and Wisdom and certainly a Wisdom beyond that of common managery and a Spirit more than Oeconomical was then understood Though therefore those Deacons were not to give themselves up to Prayer and the word only yet they might have had their part even in those Functions as St. Stephen we find had whose Preaching the Scripture records more than his Good Husbandry and who speaking by that Wisdom and Spirit for which he was but now chosen into his Office became the first Martyr as well as first Deacon of the Gospel These Deacons it should seem were Extraordinary attending Ministerially upon the Apostles as upon the twelve Princes of Israel having been created before the appointment of any Bishops or Subaltern Presbyters But afterwards in every City where Bishops or Presbyters were plac'd the Officers of this Order were constantly subjoin'd So the Epistle to the Philippians is addressed to the Saints there with the Bishops and Deacons and so in the Epistle to Timothy after Directions given concerning Bishops there follow others immediately concerning Deacons Likewise must the Deacons (e) 1 Tim. 3.8 And there we may observe the Qualifications of the lower Office are near the same with those of the Higher and as much almost requir'd in the Deacon enough to induce us to think that some Spiritual Duty was also to be discharg'd by Him So much Reason there is from Scripture to conclude that Christian Deacons did not only Keep and Dispense the Publick Contributions as the Jewish Parnasim but that they serv'd under their Superiors even in the Ministery of the Word and Prayer as we shall certainly find them hereafter (f) Chap. VIII to be Attendant upon their Bishops upon all other Business and particularly employ'd in Assemblies in the Office of a Jewish Chasan § II. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Grot. in Matth. c. 10. v. 5. d Epiphan Haeres 30.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haeres eâd. § IV. § III. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit Praefecit cui respondet Arabicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conjugat octav Inquisivit Inspexit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exponitur per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l The Chaldee of the Targum is much the same with the Hebrew of Rabbi Salomon m 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § IV. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senatus Seignieur Alderman Vid. Selden de Synedr l. 1. c. 14. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De quibus consuli poterit Rhenfordius Dissertat Philolog 1. de decem Oâ—iosis Synag § 109. c. § VI. a Upon those Words of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 R. Salomon expounds the last by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Aben Ezra by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And upon this occasion I would only offer whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of St. Paul 1 Cor. 12.28 may not be understood of this Office as it was supply'd by the Deacons of the New Testament according to what is propos'd in the next Section And this the rather because the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned just before these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may well be taken for Presbyters the Word in the Old Testament by which their Duty is express'd and which we translate Bear the Burden with thee Exod. 18.22 Numb 11.17 being in both places render'd in the Septuagint by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These Offices I would suppose had in the Beginning of the Gospel the Spiritual Gifts of proper Abilities as the first Seventy Elders were endued with a Portion of Moses his Spirit which is judged too by the Jews not to have rested upon them long much less to have continued to the Order For as to the Higher Degrees with which the Apostle there begins of first Apostles secondarily Prophets to which Evangelists are subjoin'd in the Enumeration made Ephes 4.11 and thirdly Doâ—tours these also may well be taken to bear Proportion to the different Distributions of the Holy Spirit which the Masters of the Jews observe to have been made to the Authors of the Old Testament and according to which they are known to divide its Volumes The First consisting of the Five Books of Moses their great Apostle the Next of the Prophets whom they distinguish by the First as Joshua Judges c. and by the Latter as Isaiah Jeremiah c.
Alexandria more particularly In its 6th Canon it decrees c That those who had yielded cowardly to bare Threats and had not professed their Repentance till the time of the Synod should be only admitted to Hear the Scripture and the Sermons as hopeful Vnbelievers were permitted to do untill the Great Day and that after the Great Day they should be of the Class of those who Kneel'd and Pray'd and Supplicated for Pardon as the Catechumeni did for Baptism and so continue three Years And then for two Years more they should Communicate with the Brethren in Prayer but not in the Eucharist And finally after six Years thus spent they should be received into full and free Communion We find by this Canon that the Penitential Space of time were it longer or shorter was generally determined by Easters and see that Peter of Alexandria therefore reckoned by them And further when he does those miserable Penitents the Favour after some Years Mourning to enjoin them only the Penance of Forty Days we understand his Indulgence to have been so much as to have remitted that Yearly time they should otherwise have been kept at least from the Eucharist and to have given them their Lent immediately For lastly when he says they should fast other forty days and says this after Easter we cannot doubt but that he refers to the Forty days lately pass'd in Abstinence and which concluded the preceding Year which too as it seems were pass'd in ordinary course and not by any particular Injunction of his for he appears not to have given any Orders in this Matter before So very probable it is even from this accidental Testimony That a Lent of Forty Days was kept at Alexandria before the Council of Nice and that we should so think we are now going to see what great Reason there is from that Council it self a Dion Alex. Can. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Conc. Anâ—yr Can. VI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. VII § I. Good-Friday and Days of solemn Fasting mentioned by Constantine § II. The Forty Season expresly mentioned by the Council of Nice § III. And that Forty Days are to be understood proved from St. Chrysostome § I. WE come now to the first General Council Assembled at Nice under the first Christian Emperour in the Year 325 and amongst other things taken into their Consideration another Paschal Difference was then adjusted The Syrians it seems a and Cilicians without Taurus and the Mesopotamians though they kept the Resurrection-day on a Sunday according to the Resolution in Victor's time b yet agreed so much with the Jews as to follow their wrong Calculation and begin the Year sooner than they ought by which means this Paschal Season often happened before the Aequinox whereas the rest of Christendom had all used a more Reformed Account of their own agreeable to the Directions of Moses It was therefore thought fit by the Council That such a notable Difformity among Christians and such an Agreement with the Jews in the Principal Christian Solemnity things in that time as it appears very scandalous should no longer continue which Regulation the Emperour himself considered so much as to notifie and recommend it to the Churches in a Circular Letter transmitted to after Ages by Eusebius There c he tells them That a Question having been raised about the most Holy Day of the Passover it was thought fit by unanimous Consent to keep it every where on the same Day That it was extreamly improper to keep that most Holy Feast from which we have received the Hopes of Immortality after the Custom of the Jews who embrued their hands in that wicked Action That setting aside the Jewish Manner there was a truer Course and Calculation by which the Solemnity of that Observation which had been kept from the first Passion-Day might be hereafter perpetuated to all Ages That besides the Absurdity of Erring with their Enemies the Jews there was an Vnfitness in their Disagreement among themselves That our Saviour had delivered to us One Feast the Day of our Redemption or Freedom that of his most Holy Passion and that he had ordain'd one Catholick Church and that therefore they might consider How improper it was for some Parts of that Church to be Fasting whilst others were Feasting and some after the Days of the Passover were over to be in Joy and Festivity while others were at their Solemn Fasts and both of them for the same common Reason That he promised himself their Assent to that which was already uniformly observed in Rome and Africk and all Italy in Aegypt Spain France Britain Libya all Greece the Dioceses d of Asia and Pontus and in Cilicia within Taurus and not only because there were the Greater Number but because it was the right Course and the Christians were besides to have no Communication with their and our Saviour's Enemies the Jews In this Imperial Letter we may 1 observe the extraordinary Notice that is taken of Good-Friday That alone of all the Paschal Season is specified and Easter-Day it self is unmentioned as if it were the less Principal And this it may be was done in Honour to the Catholick Doctrine and against the New heresie of Arius which depressed infinitely the Dignity of our Saviour and the Merit of his Sufferings as it was the Day of the Passion of God and not of any Creature Whereas on the contrary the Resurrection of a Creature should have been mentioned before its Passion as the more Extraordinary and Remarkable of the Two both for its Cause and Manner and its Effects and Virtue But whatever might be the Reason of this singular Mention of Good-Friday this is certain That every Friday for the sake of the Passion had by an Edict of this Emperour e the like Exemption from Civil Business with the Lord's Day it self as we may remember Origen above gave it an equal Remembrance if Tertullian too did not distinctly specifie it before 2. Solemn and prescribed Fastings are here spoke of and before Easter But how many they generally were and how far they reach'd we are not told from this no more than from other Authorities we have heretofore vouch'd We should indeed presume that they might have made up the Holy Week from Dionysius or it may be a Week or two before from what we observed on Tertullian and when we concluded from Peter of Alexandria That they were about Forty a Term remembered by Irenaeus before we could not have been thought to have stretch'd too far and been over-fond of that Number But a Canon of the same Council accidentally mentioning the Ante-Paschal Fast will sufficiently authorize the Opinion § II. THE 5th Canon f after it has decreed upon the Occasion it is suppos'd of Arius having been received into Communion by Eusebius notwithstanding his Excommunication That those who have been Ejected by one Bishop should not be Admitted by another to provide against unjust Excommunications upon Quarrel and Passion does
order That for the Examination of such Causes Two Synods a Year should be held in every Province And these says the Canon shall be held The One before the Forty Season that all Quarrel and Animosity being first laid aside as our Saviour directs a Pure and Acceptable Gift may be offered unto God in the Devotions of that Holy Time and the Other in Autumn Here now is a certain undisputed Mention of the Forty Season made by this Great Assembly of Confessours but Mr. Daillé is very unwilling to understand them of Forty Days He rather would think because the word Forty Season will be found hereafter some times to signifie a Lent in general and of uncertain Space that therefore it arose first from the Forty Hours he fansied in Irenaeus and afterwards gave its name to that Fast as it increas'd in Space and was now at length come to signifie the Passion-Week as it will hereafter in some time have so many Days added to it as shall make up the Number Forty And he says Forty Days must not be understood here for in so large a time new Quarrels might be rais'd and the Synods too must be held in February an inconvenient Season for the Bishops to travel But this Original of the Forty Season from so many Hours is a meer Singularity and grounded upon a very doubtful Construction of Irenaeus his Phrase which rather requires to be understood of Forty Days as has already appeared Neither is it reasonable to imagine That a Word which signifies Forty should be put to signifie Six Days of Fasting now when we know from the Church of Alexandria that Forty Days have been before observ'd for a Solemn Space of Penitential Devotion and much less reasonable when we shall know that so many Days in this self same Age hereafter will always be aim'd at and as near as may be approached to in the Computation of Lent as we shall presently see § III. THERE is therefore little need that I should go further for the fixing the Signification of that Word in this Canon but it may be further cleared from St. Chrysostome He was in Antioch the chief place of the East where that Jewish Account of the Passover was kept which the Council of Nice had ordered to be reform'd and the People were so addicted to it as they were too to other Customs of the Jews that though the Observation of it was again forbid by a Council at Antioch in the Year 341 yet some of them continued superstitiously to adhere to it and obliged this Eloquent Priest to interrupt the Order of his Discourses and to bestow one whole Sermon upon the Correction of their Schismatical Dissent They imagined that Easter was necessarily to be kept at the Time of Vnleavened Bread and pretended that this had been their Ancient Use St. Chrysostome therefore acquaints them That the Alteration was made by the Wisdom and Piety of the Great Council of Nice those illustrious Confessours of the Christian Faith that they thought it unfit for them any longer to follow the Jews in their erroneous Calculation and that the whole World agreed to the Ordinance He tells them That the Jewish Passover is abolish'd That Christ is the Passover of the Christians and That it is celebrated by them every Communion To which he adds g Why then say you do we fast these Forty Days Because anciently many were used to come to these Mysteries without due Preparation and particularly at this time in which our Saviour instituted the Sacrament the Fathers knowing well the Mischief of such a Negligence being come together appointed Forty Days of Fasting Praying Hearing and Assembling that we being all carefully purified in these Days both by Prayer and by Alms and by Fasting and by Watching and by Tears and by Confession and by all other Duties may so draw near as far as is possible for us with a pure Conscience And how great the Success of this Ordinance was in bringing us to a Custom of Fasting is very evident hence For if we all the Year long Cry up and Preach the Duty of Fasting never so much there is no body that hearkens to what is said but when the Season of the Forty Days is once come tho' none exhort or advise them yet every one even the most negligent sets himself to it by the Advice and Exhortation of the Season Now I take it to be very plain That the Fathers here spoke of for Lent are the same with those mentioned but just before for Easter For had they been of any other Council or Synod they would have been nam'd with some distinction And if any one would be so unreasonable as to suppose some other Council meant yet he must remember that it must be such a one as might be stil'd Ancient about the Year 390 and therefore rather before that of 325 than after and then he must withal reflect that he gives me an Earlier Authority than that for which I now contend But unquestionably as I think St. Chrysostome must be understood of the Nicene Fathers and if we take his Judgment we see evidently that they by their Forty Season could intend nothing else but their Forty Days It is true indeed that there is no particular Canon to be found that injoins this Lent of Forty Days but neither is the Ordinance about Easter found in the Canons though it was such a disputed Point Aâ—â— it may too very well be that the Observation of Forty Days was rather interlocutorily agreed upon than formally determin'd and not therefore injoin'd in any other Canon but imply'd in this of which we now speak and that the Churches of differing Customs voluntarily came in to this Uniformity of Lent upon the general Direction they received to Conform in the Celebration of Easter So has it appear'd That Mr. Daillé's Refusal to understand Forty Days by the Forty Season was not only ungrounded and arbitrary neither derived from the Practice just before the time of the Canon nor agreeable to that after but withal directly contrary to the express Affirmation of St. Chrysostome For as to the Objections he has brought if they are worth mentioning the Inconvenience he fansies that in so long a time as Forty Days they might quarrel again after their Synodical Reconciliation seems to be said with more Favour to his own Hypothesis than Respect to those Venerable Persons and the other of a February Journey though of Elder Men to the Metropolis of a Province where other Business too might call them is not very great it was not at least so considerable to the Nicene Fathers as that of their continuing at Difference one with another in the Holy Season But not to be difficult in small things we will grant that this Inconvenience might be one of the Reasons why the above-named Council of Antioch by the 24th Canon restor'd it to its former Place after Easter and settled it in the 4th Week and it seems