Chapter XXXI: Act 46: , Parl. 3, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 24, Parl. 11, King James VI., do (7)

The schismatics, irritated at this sentence, refused to acquiesce in the decisions of the council; and the more firmly to support their cause, they thought it better to subscribe to the opinions of Donatus, and openly to declaim against the Catholics: they gave out, that the Church was become prostituted; they rebaptized the Catholics; they trod under foot the eucharist consecrated by priests of the Catholic communion; they overthrew their altars, burned their churches, and ran up and down decrying the Church. (See _Circumcellians_.) They had chosen into the place of Cecilian one Majorinus; but he dying soon after, they brought in one Donatus, different from him of _Casæ Nigræ_.

This new head of the cabal used so much violence against the Catholics, that the schismatics took their name from him. But as they could not prove that they composed a true Church, they sent one of their bishops to Rome, who secretly took upon him the title of bishop of Rome. This bishop being dead, the Donatists appointed him a successor. They attempted likewise to send some bishops into Spain, that they might say, their Church began to spread itself everywhere; but it was only in Africa that it could gain any considerable footing, and this want of diffusion was much insisted on by their opponents as an argument against their pretensions.

After many vain efforts to crush this schism, the emperor Honorius assembled a council of bishops at Carthage, in the year 410; where a disputation was held between seven of each party. Marcellinus, the emperor’s deputy, who presided in that assembly, decided in favour of the Catholics, and ordered them to take possession of all the churches, which the Donatist bishops had seized on by violence, or otherwise. This decree exasperated the Donatists; but the Catholic bishops used so much wisdom and prudence, that they insensibly brought over most of those who had strayed from the bosom of the Church. It appears, however, that the schism was not quite extinct till the 7th century.—_Broughton._

DONATIVE. A donative is when the king, or any subject by his licence, founds a church or chapel, and ordains that it shall be merely in the gift or disposal of the patron, and vested absolutely in the clerk by the patron’s deed of donation, without presentation, institution, or induction. This is said to have been anciently the only way of conferring ecclesiastical benefices in England; the method of institution by the bishop not being established more early than the time of Archbishop Becket in the reign of Henry II. And therefore Pope Alexander III., (_Decretal_, 1. 3, t. 7, c. 3,) in a letter to Becket, severely inveighs against the _prava consuetudo_, as he calls it, of investiture conferred by the patron only: this however shows what was then the common usage. Others contend, that the claim of the bishops to institution is as old as the first planting of Christianity in this island; and, in proof of it, they allege a letter from the English nobility to the pope in the reign of Henry III., recorded by Matthew Paris, (A. D. 1239,) which speaks of presentation to the bishop as a thing immemorial. The truth seems to be that, where a benefice was to be conferred on a mere layman, he was first presented to the bishop, in order to receive ordination, who was at liberty to examine and refuse him: but where the clerk was already in orders, the living was usually vested in him by the sole donation of the patron; until about the middle of the twelfth century, when the pope endeavoured to introduce a kind of feudal dominion over ecclesiastical benefices, and, in consequence of that, began to claim and exercise the right of institution universally as a species of spiritual investiture.

By the act 14 & 15 Vict. c. 97, sec. 9, the right of perpetual nomination of an incumbent may be acquired by the person or body, their heirs, &c., who shall procure a church to be erected and endowed.

DONNELLAN LECTURES. Mrs. Anne Donnellan, in the last century, bequeathed a sum of £1243 to the college of Dublin, for the encouragement of religion, learning, and good manners; the application of the sum being intrusted to the provost and senior fellows; who, consequently, in 1794, resolved, that a lecturer should be annually appointed to preach six lectures in the college chapel: the subject of the lectures for each year being determined by them. The other regulations are analogous to those of the Bampton Lectures at Oxford. Many distinguished works have been the fruits of this Lecture: among them may be mentioned Dr. Graves’s Lectures on the Pentateuch, Archbishop Magee on Prophecy, &c.

DORMITORY, DORTOR, or DORTURE. The sleeping apartment in a monastic institution.

A place of sepulture is also so called, with reference, like the word _cemetery_, which has the same meaning, to the resurrection, at which time the bodies of the saints, which for the present repose in their graves, shall arise, or awake. But it must be borne in mind, that the word has reference to the sleep of the body, and not of the soul, which latter was never an article of the Christian faith.

DORT. The Synod of Dort was convened to compose the troubles occasioned by the celebrated Arminian controversy.

Arminius, professor of divinity at Leyden, had received his theological education at Geneva. After much profound meditation on the abstruse subject of predestination, he became dissatisfied with Calvin’s doctrine of the absolute decrees of GOD, in respect to the salvation and perdition of man; and, while he admitted the eternal prescience of the Deity, he held, with the Roman Catholic Church, that no mortal is rendered finally unhappy, by an eternal and invincible decree; and that the misery of those who perish comes from themselves. Many who were eminent for their talents and learning, and some who filled high situations in Holland, embraced his opinions; but, apparently at least, a great majority sided against them. The most active of these was Gomar, the colleague of Arminius in the professorship. Unfortunately, politics entered into the controversy. Most of the friends of Arminius were of the party which opposed the politics of the Prince of Orange; while, generally, the adversaries of Arminius were favourable to the views of that prince. Barneveldt and Grotius, two of the most respectable partisans of Arminius, were thrown into prison for their supposed practices against the state. The former perished on the scaffold; the latter, by his wife’s address, escaped from prison. While these disturbances were at the highest, Arminius died.

On his decease, the superintendence of the party devolved to Episcopius, who was, at that time, professor of theology at Leyden, and universally esteemed for his learning, his judgment, and his eloquence. The Arminian cause prospering under him, the opposite party took the alarm, and, in 1618, a synod was called at Dort, by the direction, and under the influence, of Prince Maurice. It was attended by deputies from the United Provinces, and from the Churches of England, Hesse, Bremen, Switzerland, and the Palatinate.

The synod adopted the Belgic Confession, decided in favour of absolute decrees, and excommunicated the Arminians. Its canons were published under the title of “Judicium Synodi nationalis reformatarum ecclesiarum habiti Dordrechti anno 1618 et 1619, de quinque doctrinæ capitibus, in ecclesiis Belgicis, controversis: Promulgatum VI. Maii MDCXIX. 4to.” It concludes the Sylloge Confessionum, printed at the Clarendon press.—_Butler’s Confession of Faith._

DOXOLOGY. (See _Gloria Patri_.) A hymn used in the Divine service of Christians. The ancient doxology was only a single sentence, without a response, running in these words: “Glory be to the FATHER, and to the SON, and to the HOLY GHOST, world without end. Amen.” Part of the latter clause, “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,” was inserted some time after the first composition. The fourth Council of Toledo, in the year 633, added the word “honour” to it, and read it, “Glory and honour be to the FATHER,” &c., because the prophet David says, “Bring glory and honour to the LORD.” It is not easy to say at what time the latter clause was inserted. Some ascribe it to the Council of Nice, and suppose it was added in opposition to the Arians. But the first express mention made of it is in the second Council of Vaison, an. 529, above two centuries later.

There was another small difference in the use of this ancient hymn; some reading it, “Glory be to the FATHER, and to the SON, with the HOLY GHOST;” others, “Glory be to the FATHER, in (or by) the SON, and by the HOLY GHOST.” This difference of expression occasioned no disputes in the Church, till the rise of the Arian heresy: but, when the followers of Arius began to make use of the latter, and made it a distinguishing character of their party, it was entirely laid aside by the Catholics, and the use of it was enough to bring any one under suspicion of heterodoxy.

This hymn was of most general use, and was a doxology, or giving of praise to GOD, at the close of every solemn office. The Western Church repeated it at the end of every psalm, with some few exceptions; and omitted it on the three days before Easter, and in offices of the dead; and the Eastern Church used it only at the end of the last psalm. Many of their prayers were also concluded with it, particularly the solemn thanksgiving, or consecration-prayer at the eucharist. It was also the ordinary conclusion of their sermons.

There was likewise another hymn, of great note in the ancient Church, called the great doxology, or angelical hymn, beginning with those words, which the angels sung at our SAVIOUR’S birth, “Glory be to GOD on high,” &c. This was chiefly used in the Communion Service. It was also used daily in men’s private devotions. In the Mozarabic liturgy it is appointed to be sung before the lessons on Christmas day. St. Chrysostom often mentions it, and observes that the Ascetics, or Christians who had retired from the world, met together daily to sing this hymn. Who first composed it, adding the remaining part to the words sung by the angels, is uncertain. Some suppose it to be as ancient as the time of Lucian, about the beginning of the second century. Others take it for the _Gloria Patri_; which is a dispute as difficult to be determined, as it is to find out the first author and original of this hymn.

Both these doxologies have a place in the liturgy of the Church of England, the former being repeated after every psalm, the latter used in the Communion Service.

As the ancient doxology of “Glory to the _Father_, SON, and HOLY GHOST” was, among the Christians, a solemn profession of their belief in the Holy Trinity, so the Mohammedans, by their doxology, “There is but one GOD,” (to which they sometimes add, “and Mohammed is his prophet,”) which they use both in their public and private prayers, and in their acclamations, sufficiently show their disbelief of a Trinity of persons in the Godhead.—_Bingham._

DRIPSTONE. In church architecture, the projecting moulding which crowns doors, windows, and other arches, in the exterior of a building.

DULCINISTS. Heretics, so denominated from one Dulcinus, a layman, of Novara in Lombardy, who lived in the beginning of the 14th century. He pretended to preach the reign of the HOLY GHOST; and while he justly enough rejected the pope’s authority, he foolishly made himself to be the head of that third reign, saying, that the FATHER had reigned from the beginning of the world to the coming of CHRIST; and the SON’S reign began then, and continued until the year 1300. He was followed by a great many people to the Alps, where he and his wife were taken and burnt by the order of Clement IV.

DULIA. (Δουλεία.) The worship paid by Romanists to saints and angels, and to images. Not denying that all these are made by them objects of worship, the Papists invent a distinction of many kinds and degrees of worship, and very accurately assign to each object of worship its proper amount of reverence. The lowest degree is the _dulia_, which is given to saints and angels. _Hyperdulia_ (ὑπερδουλεία) is reserved for the Blessed Virgin alone: and _Latria_ (λατρεια) is given to the LORD himself, and to each person in the ever blessed and glorious Trinity. Images of either of these receive a relative worship of the same order. An image of a saint or angel, _relative Dulia_: an image of the Blessed Virgin, _relative hyperdulia_: an image of either person of the Blessed Trinity, _relative Latria_. (See _Idolatry_, _Images_, _Invocation of Saints_.)

DUNKERS, or DIPPERS. A sect of Baptists, originating (1724) in the teaching of one Conrad Peysel or Beissel, a German, in Philadelphia, one of the American states. They are distinguished not only by their adherence to the rite of baptism with trine immersion, which, like other Baptists, they of course confine to adults, but also by their rigid abstinence from flesh, except on particular occasions; by their living in monastic societies, by their peculiar garb, like that of the Dominican friars, and by their scruples with regard to resistance, war, slavery, and litigation. Their great settlement is at a place which they call Euphrata, in allusion to the lament of the Hebrews in their captivity, which they used to pour forth to their harps as they sat on the banks of the Euphrates.

EAGLE. A frequent, and the most beautiful, form of the lectern for reading the lessons from in churches. It has probably some reference to the eagle, which is the symbolical companion of St. John, in ecclesiastical design. The eagle is frequently employed in foreign churches, but generally for the chanting of the service, not for the lessons. Sometimes it is employed for the reading of the Epistles and Gospels, and there are instances of one being on each side of the choir or chancel. Several of the cathedrals and colleges in our universities have this kind of lecterns. Before the civil wars in 1651, there was in the cathedral of Waterford, a “great standing pelican to support the Bible, a brazen eagle,” and other ornaments.—_Ryland’s Waterford._ Winchester and St. John’s College, Cambridge, have of late years been provided with eagle lecterns. The “_Lecterna_” or Bible eagle at Peterborough was given by Abbot Ramsay and John Maldon in 1471.—_Dugd. Monast._ ed. 1830, i. 344.—_Jebb._

EARLY ENGLISH, or LANCET, the first style of pure Gothic architecture, fully established about 1190, and merging in the Geometrical about 1245. The Lancet window is the principal characteristic of this style; but it has, besides, various peculiarities, (see _Arcade_, _Capital_, _Moulding_, _Vaulting_,) among which are the following:—The doorways are frequently divided by a central shaft. As compared with the preceding style, the buttresses have a considerable projection, and they usually terminate in a plain pediment. The flying buttress becomes frequent. Gables are of very high pitch; the parapet usually retains the corbel-table. Piers consist of a circular or octagonal shaft, surrounded by four or eight smaller ones, which stand free, except that, when of great length, they are generally banded in the centre. Purbeck or Petworth marble is often used both for the central, which is really the bearing shaft, and the smaller ones; but in this case the marble of the bearing shaft is laid as in the quarry, while the smaller shafts are set upwards, for the sake of greater length. The triforium still maintains its importance, though hardly so lofty as in the Norman style: it is usually of two smaller behind a principal arch, or of four smaller behind two principal arches. The clerestory is generally of the three Lancets, the central one much more lofty than the two others. The carving is extremely sharp and good, and very easily recognised, when it contains foliage, by the stiff stalks ending in crisped or curled leaves. Panels are often used to relieve large spaces of masonry, either blank or pierced; and sometimes in window-heads, and in triforium arcades, approach very nearly to the character of tracery. They are also often filled with figures. The dog-tooth, which had made its appearance in the Transition, is now extremely abundant, often filling the hollows of the mouldings in two or three continuous trails. The spires are almost invariably broach-spires.

EAST. (See also _Bowing_ and _Apostles’ Creed_.) In the aspect of their churches, the ancient Christians reversed the order of the Jews, placing the altar on the east, so that in facing towards the altar in their devotions they were turned to the east. As the Jews began their day with the _setting sun_, so the followers of CHRIST began theirs with the _rising sun_. The eye of the Christian turned with peculiar interest to the east, whence the day-spring from on high had visited him. There the morning star of his hope fixed his admiring gaze. Thence arose the Sun of righteousness with all his heavenly influences. Thither, in prayer, his soul turned with kindling emotions to the altar of his GOD. And even in his grave, thither still he directed his slumbering eye, in quiet expectation of awakening to behold in the same direction the second appearing of his LORD, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to gather his saints.

In the ancient Church it was a ceremony almost of general use and practice, the turning the face to the east in their solemn adorations, which custom seems derived from the ceremonies of baptism, when it was usual to renounce the devil with the face to the west, and then turn to the east and make the covenant with CHRIST. Several reasons were given by the Fathers for this. First, As the east, the place of the day-spring from darkness, was the symbol of CHRIST, “the Sun of righteousness.” 2ndly, As it was the place of paradise, lost by the fall of the first Adam, and to be regained by the second Adam. 3rdly, That CHRIST made his appearance on earth in the east; there ascended into heaven; and thence will again come at the last day. And, 4thly, That the east, as the seat of light and brightness, was the most honourable part of the creation, and therefore peculiarly ascribed to GOD, the fountain of light, and illuminator of all things; as the west was ascribed to the devil, because he hides the light, and brings darkness on men to their destruction.

When we repeat the creed, it is customary to turn towards the east, that so, whilst we are making profession of our faith in the blessed Trinity, we may look towards that quarter of the heavens where God is supposed to have his peculiar residence of glory.—_Wheatly._

Turning towards the east is an ancient custom,—as indeed in most religions, men have directed their worship some particular way. And this practice being intended only to honour CHRIST, the Sun of righteousness, who hath risen upon us, to enlighten us with that doctrine of salvation to which we then declare our adherence, it ought not to be condemned as superstition.—_Secker._

Most churches are so contrived, that the greater part of the congregation faces the east. The Jews, in their dispersion throughout the world, when they prayed, turned their faces towards the mercy-seat and cherubim, where the ark stood. (2 Chron. vi. 36–38.) Daniel was found praying towards Jerusalem, (Dan. vi. 10,) because of the situation of the temple. And this has always been esteemed a very becoming way of expressing our belief in God.—_Collis._

EASTER. A festival of the Christians observed in the memory of our Saviour’s resurrection. The Latins, and others, call it Pascha, an Hebrew word, which signifies “passage,” and is applied to the Jewish feast of the Passover, to which the Christian festival of Easter corresponds. This festival is called, in English, Easter, from the Saxon _Eostre_, an ancient goddess of that people, worshipped with peculiar ceremonies in the month of April.

Concerning the celebration of this festival, there were anciently very great disputes in the Church. Though all agreed in the observation of it in general, yet they differed very much as to the particular time when it was to be observed; some keeping it precisely on the same stated day every year; others, on the fourteenth day of the first moon in the new year, whatever day of the week it happened on; and others, on the first Sunday after the first full moon. This diversity occasioned a great dispute, in the second century, between the Asiatic Churches and the rest of the world; in the course of which Pope Victor excommunicated all those Churches. But the Council of Nice, in the year 324, decreed, that all Churches should keep the Pasch, or festival of Easter, on one and the same day, which should be always a Sunday. This decree was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Antioch, in the year 341. Yet this did not put an end to all disputes concerning the observation of this festival; for it was not easy to determine on what Sunday it was to be held, because, being a movable feast, it sometimes happened, that the Churches of one country kept it a week, or a month, sooner than other Churches, by reason of their different calculations. Therefore the Council of Nice is said to have decreed further, that the bishops of Alexandria should adjust a proper cycle, and inform the rest of the world, on what Sunday every year Easter was to be observed. Notwithstanding which, the Roman and Alexandrian accounts continued to differ, and sometimes varied a week, or a month, from each other; and no effectual cure was found for this, till, in the year 525, Dionysius Exiguus brought the Alexandrian canon, or cycle, entirely into use in the Roman Church. Meantime, the Churches of France and Britain kept to the old Roman canon, and it was two or three ages after, before the new Roman, that is, the Alexandrian canon was, not without some struggle and difficulty, settled among them.—_Bingham, Orig. Eccles._ b. xx. c. 5. _Theod._ lib. i. c. 10. _Socrat._ lib. ii. c. 9. _Euseb. de Vit. Const._ lib. iii. c. 14. _Leo_, Ep. 63, _ad Marcian. Imper._

But though the Christian Churches differed as to the time of celebrating Easter, yet they all agreed in showing a peculiar respect and honour to this festival. Gregory Nazianzen calls it the Queen of Festivals, and says, it excels all others as far as the sun exceeds the other stars. Hence, in some ancient writers, it is distinguished by the name of _Dominica Gaudii_, i. e. the “Sunday of joy.” One great instance of the public joy was given by the emperors, who were used to grant a general release to the prisons on this day, with an exception only to such criminals as were guilty of the highest crimes. The ancient Fathers frequently mention these Paschal indulgences, or acts of grace, and speak of them with great commendations. It was likewise usual at this holy season for private persons to grant slaves their freedom or manumission.—_Orat._ 19, _in fun. Patris_, t. v. _Cod. Theod._ lib. ix. tit. 38, leg. 3. _Cod. Justin._ lib. iii. tit. 12, leg. 8.

To these expressions of public joy may be added, that the Christians were ambitious, at this time especially, to show their liberality to the poor. They likewise kept the whole week after Easter day, as part of the festival; holding religious assemblies every day, for prayer, preaching, and receiving the communion. Upon which account the author of the Constitutions requires servants to rest from their labour the whole week. All public games were prohibited during this whole season; as also all proceedings at law, except in some special and extraordinary cases.—Lib. viii. c. 53. _Cod. Theod._ lib. xv. tit. v. leg. 5. _Ib._ lib. ii. tit. viii.

The festival of Easter was, likewise, the most noted and solemn time of baptism, which, except in cases of necessity, was administered only at certain stated times of the year.

The eve, or vigil, of this festival was celebrated with more than ordinary pomp, with solemn watchings, and with multitudes of lighted torches, both in the churches and in private houses, so as to turn the night itself into day. This they did as a _prodromus_, or forerunner of that great light, the Sun of righteousness, which the next day arose upon the world.—_Greg. Naz._ Orat. ii. _in Pasch._

The paschal canon, or rule, of Dionysius having become the standing rule, for the celebration of Easter, to all the Western Churches, it will be proper briefly to explain it. The particulars of it are as follows: viz. That Easter be always on the Sunday next after the Jewish Passover; that, the Jewish Passover being always on the fourteenth day of the first vernal moon, the Christian Easter is always to be the next Sunday after the said fourteenth day of that moon; that, to avoid all conformity with the Jews in this matter, if the fourteenth day of the said moon be on a Sunday, this festival is to be deferred to the Sunday following; that the first vernal moon is that, whose fourteenth day is either upon the day of the vernal equinox, or the next fourteenth day after it; that the vernal equinox, according to the Council of Nice, is fixed to the twenty-first day of March; that therefore the first vernal moon, according to this rule, is that, whose fourteenth day falls upon the 21st of March, or the first fourteenth day after; that the next Sunday after the fourteenth day of the vernal moon (which is called the paschal term) is always Easter day; that, therefore, the earliest paschal term being the 21st of March, the 22nd of March is the earliest Easter possible; and the 18th of April being the latest paschal term, the seventh day after, that is, the 25th of April, is the latest Easter possible; that the cycle of the moon, or golden number, always shows us the first day of the paschal moon, and the cycle of the sun, or dominical letter, always shows us which is the next Sunday after.—_Prideaux, Connect._ part ii. b. iv.

In the Romish Church, on Easter eve, the bells are rung about four in the afternoon; the ornaments of the churches and altars are changed from black to white; and the paschal taper is placed in a great candlestick made in the shape of an angel. On the morning of Easter Sunday, matins are said before day-break, because our Saviour rose at that time. When the pope officiates, two cardinal deacons are placed on the right and left of the altar, dressed in white robes, to represent the two angels who watched our SAVIOUR’S sepulchre.—_Sacra Cerem. Eccl. Rom._ lib. ii.

In the Greek Church, it is usual, on Easter day, upon meeting their friends, to greet them with this salutation, “JESUS CHRIST is risen from the dead;” to which the person accosted replies, “He is risen indeed.” On Good Friday, two priests carry in procession, on their shoulders, the picture or representation of a tomb, in which the crucified JESUS, painted on a board, is deposited. On Easter Sunday, this sepulchre is carried out of the church, and exposed to public view, when the priest solemnly assures the people, that CHRIST is risen from the dead, and shows them the picture turned on the other side, which represents JESUS CHRIST rising out of the sepulchre. The whole congregation embrace each other, and, in transports of joy, shoot off pistols.—_Tournefort’s Voyages_, Letter III. _Broughton_.

The anniversary festival appointed in remembrance of the resurrection of our blessed SAVIOUR from the state of death, to which he had subjected himself as an atonement for the sins of men. It is stated by Venerable Bede, that this name was given to this festival at the time when Christianity was first introduced among our Saxon ancestors in this island. Those people, says Bede, worshipped an imaginary deity, called Eostre, whose feast they celebrated every year at this season; the name remained when the worship was altered. Others conceive the name to be derived from an old Saxon word importing rising; Easter day thus signifying the day of resurrection. Easter Sunday is not strictly the anniversary day of our SAVIOUR’S resurrection, but is the day appointed by the Church to be kept in remembrance of that event. After great difference of opinions, it was decided in the Council of Nice that Easter day should be kept on the Sunday following the Jewish feast of the Passover, which Passover is kept on the 14th day, or full moon, of the Jewish month _Nisan_. At the same time, to prevent all uncertainty in future, it was made a further rule of the Church, that the full moon next to the vernal (or spring) equinox should be taken for the full moon in the month _Nisan_, and the 21st of March be accounted the vernal equinox. Easter Sunday, therefore, is always the Sunday following the full moon which falls on, or next after, the 21st of March. Easter is thus observed with reference to the feast of the Passover, on account of the typical quality of that day; the annual sacrifice commanded by the Jewish law being regarded as a type of the greater sacrifice of CHRIST for our redemption, and the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt as a type of our deliverance from sin and death by his merits.

This was the birthday of our SAVIOUR in his state of glory and exaltation, as his nativity was his birthday to his state of humiliation. It was anciently called the “great day,” and “the feast of feasts;” being by eminence “the day which the LORD hath made,” (Ps. cxviii. 24,) for the Fathers unanimously expound that passage of this day, and therefore with them, as with us, that psalm was always part of the office of the day. For the antiquity of the observation of this day innumerable authors might be produced; but the matter is not at all controverted.—_L’Estrange._

This is the highest of all feasts, saith Epiphanius: this day CHRIST opened to us the door of life, being the first-fruits of those that rose from the dead: whose resurrection was our life; for he rose again for our justification. (Rom. iv. 25.)—_Bp. Sparrow._

In the primitive times the Christians of all Churches on this day used this morning salutation, “CHRIST is risen;” to which those who were saluted answered, “CHRIST is risen indeed;” or else thus, “and hath appeared unto Simon;” a custom still retained in the Greek Church. And our Church, supposing us as eager of the joyful news as they were, is loth to withhold from us long the pleasure of expressing it; and therefore, as soon as the absolution is pronounced, and we are thereby rendered fit for rejoicing, she begins her office of praise with anthems proper to the day, encouraging her members to call upon one another “to keep the feast; for that CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us, and is also risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept,” &c.—_Wheatly._

The first lesson in the morning is the twelfth chapter of Exodus, in which is mentioned the institution of the Passover, proper for this day, the feast of the Passover: for, as St. Augustine observes, “we do in this feast not only call to mind the history of our SAVIOUR’S resurrection, but also celebrate the mystery of ours.” That as CHRIST this day rose again from death to life, so by CHRIST, and the virtue of his resurrection, shall we be made alive, and rise from death to life eternal. CHRIST is therefore our true Passover, whereof the other was a type: the lesson then is proper for the day. So is the first lesson for the evening, (Exod. xiv.,) for it is concerning the Israelites’ deliverance out of Egypt, a type of our deliverance from hell this day by CHRIST’S glorious resurrection. As that day Israel saw that great work, which the LORD did upon Egypt, (ver. 31,) so this day we see the great conquest over hell and death finished by CHRIST’S triumphant resurrection from the dead. The second lessons are plain. The Gospel gives us the full evidence of CHRIST’S resurrection; the Epistle tells us what use we should make of it, “If CHRIST be risen, seek those things that are above,” &c. The collect prays for grace, to make the use of it which the Epistle directs.

Thus holy Church is careful to teach and instruct all her children in the matter of the feast, preaching CHRIST’S resurrection to us, both in the type and prophecy out of the Old Testament, and in the history of it out of the New. And she does not only teach us to know what GOD hath done for us this day, but also she is careful that we may do our duty to GOD for this his marvellous goodness, commanding and directing us to pray for grace to do our duty, prescribing us excellent forms of adoring and blessing GOD for his mercy this day, such methods as the HOLY GHOST hath set down, in which we may be sure to pray and praise God by the spirit.—_Bp. Sparrow._ On this day, as on Christmas day, there were formerly [in the First Book of King Edward VI.] two communions, whereof we have retained the former Epistle and Gospel.—_Bp. Cosin._

Easter day is a scarlet day at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. In choirs, the Responses and Litanies used to be universally, and in many places are still, solemnly sung to the organ; and the Responses, on the Monday and Tuesday following.—_Jebb._

EASTER ANTHEMS. On Easter day, instead of the _Venite_, certain anthems are appointed to be said or sung. At the last review the first two verses now used were prefixed, and the authorized translation adopted. In the First Book of King Edward VI., these anthems were appointed to be said or sung “afore matins, the people being assembled in the church;” and were followed by the following Versicle and Response.

_Priest._ Show forth to all the nations the glory of GOD.

_Answ._ And among all people his wonderful works.

With a special prayer. (See _Anthem._)

EBIONITES. Heretics in the first century; so called from their leader, Ebion. The _Ebionites_, as well as the _Nazarenes_, had their origin from the circumcised Christians, who had retired from Jerusalem to Pella, during the war between the Jews and Romans, and made their first appearance after the destruction of Jerusalem, about the time of Domitian, or a little before.

Ebion, the author of the heresy of the Ebionites, was a disciple of Cerinthus, and his successor. He improved upon the errors of his master, and added to them new opinions of his own. He began his preaching in Judea: he taught in Asia, and even at Rome: his tenets infected the isle of Cyprus. St. John opposed both Cerinthus and Ebion in Asia; and it is thought that this apostle wrote his Gospel, in the year 97, particularly against this heresy.

The Ebionites held the same errors as the Nazarenes. They united the ceremonies of the law with the precepts of the gospel: they observed both the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Sunday. They called their place of assembling a _synagogue_, and not a _church._ They bathed every day, which was the custom of the Jews. In celebrating the eucharist, they made use of unleavened bread, but no wine.

They added to the observance of the law divers superstitions. They adored Jerusalem as the house of GOD. Like the Samaritans, they would not suffer a person of another religion to touch them. They abstained from the flesh of animals, and even from milk: and, lest any one should object to them that passage of the Gospel, where our LORD says he desires to eat of the passover, they corrupted it. When they were sick, or bitten by a serpent, they plunged themselves into water, and invoked all sorts of things to their assistance.

They disagreed among themselves in relation to our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Some of them said he was born, like other men, of Joseph and Mary, and acquired sanctification only by his good works. Others of them allowed that he was born of a virgin, but denied that he was the _Word_ of GOD, or had a pre-existence before his human generation. They said he was indeed the only true prophet, but yet a mere man, who, by his virtue, had arrived at being called CHRIST and the Son of GOD. They supposed that CHRIST and the devil were two principles, which GOD had opposed the one to the other.

Though the Ebionites observed the law, yet they differed from the Jews in many points. They acknowledged the sanctity of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and Joshua; but they laughed at all those who came after them. They rejected some parts of the Pentateuch; and when they were too closely pressed by these books, they entirely abandoned them.

Of the New Testament, they acknowledged only the Gospel of St. Matthew, that is, that which was written in Hebrew, and which they called the _Gospel according to the Hebrews_. But they took from it the two first chapters, and corrupted other passages of it. They absolutely rejected St. Paul as an apostate, and an enemy of the law, and published several calumnies against him. They had likewise false _Acts of the Apostles_, in which they mixed a great many fables.

As to their manner of life, they imitated the Carpocratians, the most infamous of all heretics. They rejected virginity and continence: they obliged children to marry very young: they allowed married persons to separate from each other, and marry again, as often as they pleased.

St. Justin, St. Irenæus, and Origen, wrote against the Ebionites. Symmachus, author of one of the Greek versions of the Scriptures, was an Ebionite.

ECCLESIASTES. A canonical book of the Old Testament. It is called “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king of Jerusalem,” that is, of Solomon, who, from the great excellency of his instructions, was emphatically styled “the preacher.” The design of it is to show the vanity of all sublunary things, in order to which the author enumerates the several objects upon which men place their happiness in this life, and then discovers the emptiness and insufficiency of all worldly enjoyments, by many various reflections on the evils of human life. The conclusion of the whole is, in the words of the preacher, “Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” St. Jerome observes, that this pious inference prevented the Jews from suppressing this whole book of Ecclesiastes, which they had thoughts of doing, (as well as many other writings of Solomon, which are now lost and forgotten,) because it asserts that the creatures of GOD are vain, and all things as nothing; it was also thought to contain some dangerous opinions, and some particular expressions that might infuse doubts concerning the immortality of the soul.

The word _Ecclesiastes_, which is Greek, signifies _a preacher_. The Hebrews call it _Coheleth_, which literally signifies _a collector_, because it is supposed to be a sermon or discourse delivered to an assembly. The Talmudists will have King Hezekiah to be the author of it. Kimchi ascribes it to Isaiah, and Grotius to Zorobabel; but the book itself affords no foundation for these conjectures. On the contrary, as observed by Mr. Holden, “The author is expressly styled in the initiatory verse, _the son of David, king in Jerusalem_: and in the 12th verse he is described as _king over Israel, in Jerusalem_. These passages are found in every known MS., and in all the ancient versions; and Solomon, as is well known, was the only son of David who ever reigned in Jerusalem. The book has been thus admitted into the sacred canon as the production of Solomon, to whom it has also been ascribed by a regular and concurrent tradition. A collateral proof arises from the contents of the work itself, in which the author is stated to have excelled in wisdom beyond all who were before him in Jerusalem, and to have composed many proverbs: circumstances descriptive of Solomon, and of no other personage whose name is recorded in the Holy Scriptures. The writer is likewise represented as abounding in wealth and treasure, &c., extremely applicable to Solomon.” Mr. Holden, and Mr. Desvœux, in their very learned and exhaustive dissertations, completely refute the really shallow objections of Grotius, Dathe, Eichhorn, and others, as to Solomon’s authorship. They do not, however, quite agree as to the scope of the book. Mr. Desvœux (to whom Dr. Graves, in his Lectures on the Pentateuch, assents) states that his object is to prove the immortality of the soul, or rather the necessity of another state after this life, from such arguments as may be afforded by reason and experience. Mr. Holden abides by the generally received opinion, that it is “an arguing into the _summum bonum_, or chief good: not however merely as regarding happiness in this life, but that which in all its bearings and relations is conducive to the best interests of man. This he finally determines to be true wisdom: ... and every part of the discourse, when considered in reference to this object, tends to develope the nature of true wisdom, to display its excellence, or to recommend its acquirement.” So Bishop Gray: “he endeavours to illustrate the insufficiency of earthly enjoyment; not with design to excite in us a disgust to life, but to influence us to prepare for that state where there is no vanity.” Ecclesiastes may justly be considered as a sequel to the Book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, according to a modern author, is a dialogue in which a man of piety disputes against a libertine who favoured the opinions of the Sadducees; his reason is, because there are some things in it which seem to contradict each other, and could not proceed from the same person. But this may be wholly owing to Solomon’s method of disputing _pro_ and _con_, and proposing the objections of the Sadducees, to which he replies.

The generality of commentators believe this book to be the product of Solomon’s repentance, after having experienced all the follies and pleasures of life; notwithstanding which, some have questioned whether Solomon be saved, and his repentance is still a problem in the Church of Rome.

ECCLESIASTIC. A person holding any office in the sacred ministry of the Church. (See _Bishop_, _Priest_, _and Deacon_.)

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORIANS. (See _Historians_.)

ECCLESIASTICUS. An apocryphal book of Scripture, distinguished by this name because it was read (_in ecclesia_) in the church as a book of piety and instruction, but not of infallible authority; or it is so called, perhaps, to distinguish it from the book of Ecclesiastes; or to show that it contains, as well as the former, precepts and exhortations to wisdom and virtue. The anonymous preface to this work informs us, that the author of it was a Jew, called Jesus, the son of Sirach, who wrote it in Hebrew; but it was rendered into Greek by his grandson of the same name. The Hebrew copy of this book, which St. Jerome saw, was entitled _Proverbs_. By many of the ancients it was styled Παναρετος, _the book of every virtue_: but the most common name among the Greeks is, _The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach_. This book was written under the high priesthood of Onias III., and translated in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, or Physcon. Some of the ancients have ascribed it to Solomon. The author, no doubt, had in his view the subject and thoughts expressed in the Proverbs of that king, and has followed his method of teaching morality by sentences or maxims. This book begins with an exhortation to the pursuit of wisdom; after which follow many maxims of morality to the forty-fourth chapter, where the author begins to rehearse the praises of famous men, such as the patriarchs, prophets, and the most illustrious men of the Jewish nation. The Latin version of Ecclesiasticus has more in it than the Greek, several particulars being inserted in that, which are not in the other. These, Dr. Prideaux observes, seem to have been interpolated by the first author of that version; but now, the Hebrew being lost, the Greek, which was made from it by the grandson of the author, must stand for the original; and from that the English translation was made.

Parts of Ecclesiasticus are strikingly like the style of Solomon, and truly Hebraic in their cast, as has been remarked by Bishop Lowth in his 24th Prelection; who subjoins a translation of the 24th chapter into Hebrew. He recognises however a considerable difference between its style and that of Solomon.

ECLECTICS. A sect which arose in the Christian Church towards the close of the second century. They professed to make truth the only object of their inquiry, and to be ready to adopt from all the different systems and sects such tenets as they thought agreeable to it; and hence their name, from ἐκλεγω, to _select_. They preferred Plato to the other philosophers, and looked upon his opinions concerning GOD, the human soul, and things invisible, as conformable to the spirit and genius of the Christian doctrine. One of the principal patrons of this system was Ammonius Saccas, who at this time laid the foundation of that sect, afterwards distinguished by the name of the New Platonists, in the Alexandrian School.—_Broughton._

ECONOMICAL. The economical method of disputing was that in which the disputants accommodated themselves, as much as possible, to the taste and prejudices of those whom they were endeavouring to gain over to the truth. Some of the early Christians carried this condescension too far, and abused St. Paul’s example. (1 Cor. ix. 20.) The word is derived from οἰκονομία, _dispensatio rei familiaris_, the discretionary arrangement of things in a house according to circumstances.

ECONOMIST. (_Œconomus._) An officer in some cathedrals of Ireland, chosen periodically by the chapter out of their own body, whose office is to manage the common estate of the cathedral, to see to the necessary repairs, pay the church officers, &c.—_Jebb._

ECONOMY ESTATE, or FUND. In some Irish cathedrals the common fund, for the support of the fabric, the payment of the inferior church officers, and sometimes certain members of the choir, is so called. It is not divisible among the cathedral body themselves. About half the cathedrals in Ireland are destitute of any common or corporate fund whatever.—_Jebb._

ECUMENICAL. (From οἰκουμένη, _the world_.) A term applied to general councils of the Church, to distinguish them from provincial and diocesan synods. (See _Councils_.)

EDIFICATION. Literally, _a building up_; and in the figurative language of the New Testament, a growing in grace and holiness, whether of individuals or of the Church.

A pretence of greater edification has been a common ground of separation from the Church; but most absurdly, for “edification,” says Dean Sherlock, in his resolution of some cases of conscience which respect Church communion, is building up, and is applied to the Church, considered as GOD’S house and temple; and it is an odd way of building up the temple of GOD, by dividing and separating the parts of it from each other. The most proper signification of the word which our translators render by “edification,” is a house or building; and this is the proper sense wherein it belongs to the Christian Church: “ye are GOD’S husbandry, ye are GOD’S building,” that is, the Church is GOD’S house or building. Thus the same apostle tells us that in CHRIST, “the whole building” (that is, the whole Christian Church) “fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the LORD.” (Ephes. ii. 21.) Hence the governors of the Church are called builders, and the apostles are called “labourers together with GOD,” in erecting this spiritual building; and St. Paul calls himself a “master builder.” Hence the increase, growth, and advances towards perfection in the Church, is called the building or edification of it. For this reason, St. Paul commends prophecy, or expounding the Scriptures, before speaking in unknown tongues without an interpreter, because by this the Church receives building or edification.

All those spiritual gifts, which were bestowed on the Christians, were for the building and edifying of the Church. The apostolical power in Church censures was “for edification, not for destruction” (2 Cor. x. 8); to build, and not to pull down; that is, to preserve the unity of the Church entire, and its communion pure. And we may observe, that this edification is primarily applied to the Church: “that the Church may receive edifying;” “that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church;” “for the edifying of the body of CHRIST.” (1 Cor. xiv. 5, 12; Ephes. iv. 12.) And it is very observable wherein the apostle places the edification of the body of CHRIST, viz. in unity and love: “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the SON of GOD, to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of CHRIST.” (Ephes. iv. 12, 13.) Till we are united by one faith unto one body, and perfect man, and “speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even CHRIST; from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephes. iv. 15, 16.) This is an admirable description of the unity of the Church, in which all the parts are closely united and compacted together, as stones and timber are to make one house; and thus they grow into one body, and increase in mutual love and charity, which is the very building and edification of the Church, which is edified and built up in love, as the apostle adds, that “knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” (1 Cor. viii. 1.) This builds up the Church of CHRIST; and that not such a common charity as we have for all mankind, but such a love and sympathy as is peculiar to the members of the same body, and which none but members can have for each other. And now methinks I need not prove that schism and separation are not for the edification of the Church; to separate for edification is to pull down instead of building up. But these men do not seem to have any great regard to the edification of the Church, but only to their own particular edification: and we must grant that edification is sometimes applied to particular Christians in Scripture, according to St. Paul’s exhortation, “Comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thess. v. 11.) And this edifying one another, without question, signifies our promoting each other’s growth and progress in all Christian graces and virtues; and so the building and edification of the Church, signifies the growth and improvement of the Church in all spiritual wisdom and knowledge, and Christian graces. The edification of the Church consists in the edification of particular Christians; but then this is called edification or building, because this growth and improvement is in the unity and communion of the Church, and makes them one spiritual house and temple. Thus the Church is called the temple of GOD, and every particular Christian is GOD’S temple, wherein the HOLY SPIRIT dwells; and yet God has but one temple, and the HOLY SPIRIT dwells only in the Church of CHRIST; but particular Christians are GOD’S temple, and the HOLY SPIRIT dwells in them as living members of the Christian Church; and thus by the same reason the Church is edified and built up, as it grows into a spiritual house and holy temple, by a firm and close union and communion of all its parts: and every Christian is edified, as he grows up in all Christian graces and virtues in the unity of the Church. And, therefore, whatever extraordinary means of edification men may fancy to themselves in a separation, the apostle knew no edification but in the communion of the Church; and indeed, if our growth and increase in all grace and virtue be more owing to the internal assistance of the DIVINE SPIRIT, than to the external administrations, as St. Paul tells us, “I have planted and Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase; so then, neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but GOD that giveth the increase” (1 Cor. iii. 6, 7); and if the DIVINE SPIRIT confines his influences and operations to the unity of the Church, as the same apostle tells us that there is but “one body and one spirit,” (Eph. iv. 4,) which plainly signifies that the operations of this one spirit are appropriated to this one body, as the soul is to the body it animates;—then it does not seem a very likely way for edification, to cut ourselves off from the unity of CHRIST’S body.