0. 53. Cod. Theod. lib. xv. tit. v. leg. 5.
lb. 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 multi-
tudes 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 prodroyyius, or fore-runner of that
great light, the Sun of righteousness, which
the next day arose upon the world.—
Gref/. Xaz. 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 ex-
plain it. The particulars of it are as fol-
lows : viz. That Easter be always on the
Sunday next after the JeAvish Passover;
that, the Jewish Passover being ahvays on
the fourteenth day of the fost vernal moon,
the Christian Easter is always to be the
next Sunday after the said fourteenth day
of that moon ; that, to avoid all conform-
ity 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 Coun-
cil 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 (Avhich is called the pas-
chal term) is always Easter day; that,
therefore, the earliest paschal term being
the 21st of March, the 22nd of March is
the earHest 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 domini-
cal letter, alwavs shows us Avhich is the
next Sunday after.— Prideaux, Connect.
part ii. b. iv.
In the llomish Church, on Easter eve,
the bells are rung about four in the after-
noon ; 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. AVhen the pope
officiates, tAvo cardinal deacons are placed
on the right and left of the altar, dressed
in AA'hite robes, to represent the tAVO angels
Avho Avatched our Saviour's sepulclire.
— Sacra Cerem. Eccl. Rom. lib. ii.
In the Greek Church, it is usual, on
Easter day, upon meeting their friends, to
greet them Avith this salutation, "Jesus
Christ is risen from the dead ; " to Avhich
the person accosted replies, " He is risen
indeed." On Good Friday, tAvo priests
carry in procession, on their shoulders, the
picture or representation of a tomb, in
Avhich the crucified Jesus, painted on a
board, is deposited. On Easter Sunday,
this sepulchre is carried out of the church,
and exposed to public vieAv, when the priest
solemnly assures the people, that Christ
is risen from the dead, and shoAvs them
the picture turned on the other side, which
represents Jesus Christ rising out of the
sepulchre. The AA'hole congregation em-
brace each other, and, in transports of joy,
shoot off" pistols. — Tournefort^s Voyages^
Letter III. Brongliton.
The anniversary festival appointed in
remembrance of the resurrection of our
blessed Saviour from the state of death,
to AA'hich 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 AAhen
Christianity Avas first introduced among
our Saxon ancestors in this island. Those
people, says Bede, Avorshipped an imagin-
ary deity, called Eostre, Avhose feast they
celebrated every year at this season; the
name remained Avhen the Avorship AA-as
altered. Others conceive the name to be
derived from an old Saxon w'ord importing
rising ; Easter day thus signifying the day
of resurrection. Easter Sunday is not
strictly the anniversary day of our Sa-
viour's resurrection, but is the day ap-
pointed by the Church to be kept in re-
membrance 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 JeAvish
feast of the Passover, Avhich Passover is
kept on the 14th day, or full moon, of the
JeAvish month Nisan. At the same time,
to prevent all uncertainty in future, it AA'as
made a further rule of the Church, that
EASTER.
EASTER ANTHEMS.
303
the full moon next to the vernal (or spring)
equinox should be taken for the full moon
in the month Xisan, 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 tyj)ical
quality of that day ; the annual sacrifice
commanded by the Jewish law being re-
garded as a type of the greater sacrifice of
Chkist for our redemption^ and the de-
liverance of the Israelites out of Egypt as
a type of our deliverance from sin and death
by his merits.
This was the birth-day of our Saviour
in his state of glory and exaltation, as his
nativity was his birth-day 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 au-
thors might be produced ; but the matter
is not at all controverted. — IJ 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 re-
surrection 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 re-
tained in the Greek Church. And our
Church, supposing us as eager of the joy-
ful ncAvs 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 be-
come the first-fruits of them that slept,"
kc.— Whcathj.
The first lesson in the morning is the
twelfth chapter of Exodus, in Mhich is
mentioned the institution of the Passover,
proper for this day, the feast of the Pass-
over : 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 i)ro])er
for the day. So is the fii*st 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 Avork, which
the Lord did upon Egypt, (ver. 81,) so
this day we see the great conquest over
hell and death finished by Christ's tri-
umphant resurrection from the dead. The
second lessons are plain. The Gospel gives
us the full evidence of Christ's resurrec-
tion : 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 Ej)istle 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.
Sparroiv. On this day, as on Christmas
day, there were formerly [in the First Book
of King EdAvard VI.] two communions,
whereof we have retained the former Epis-
tle and Gospel. — Bp. Cosin.
Easter day is a scarlet day at the uni-
versities 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 Re-
sponses, on the Monday and Tuesday fol-
lowing. — Jd)b.
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
ado])ted. In the First Book of King
Edward VI., these anthems were appoint-
ed to be said or sung " afore matins, the
304
EBIONITES.
ECCLESIASTES.
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. *
Ansn\ And among all people his won-
derful works,
"With a special praver. (See Anthem.)
EBIOXITES. Heretics in the first cen-
tury; so called from their leader, Ebion.
The Ebion it cs, as well as the Kazarcnes,
had their origin from the circumcised
Christians, Avho had retired from Jerusa-
lem to Pella, during the war between the
Jews and Komans, and made their first
appearance after the destruction of Jeru-
salem, about the time of Domitian, or a
little before.
Ebion, the author of the heresy of the
Ebionites, was a disciple of Ccrinthus, 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 Home : his tenets infected the
isle of Cyprus. St. John opposed both
Cerinthus and Ebion in Asia ; and it is
thought that this apostle WTote his Gospel,
in the year 97, particularly against this
heresy.
The Ebionites held the same errors as
the Nazarenes. They united the cere-
monies 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 sj/Jia-
f/or/ue, 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 Jeru-
salem as the house of God. Like the
Samaritans, they would not suff'er 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 re-
lation to our Lord Jesus Christ. Some
of them said he was born, like other men,
of Joseph and Mary, and acquired sanctifi-
cation only by his good works. Others of
them allowed that he was born of a virgin,
but denied that he was the JFord 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,
w^ho, 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 diff'ered 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 acknow-
ledged only the Gospel of St. Matthew,
that is, that which was written in Hebrew,
and which they called the Gospel accordinf/
to the Hebrews. But they took from it the
two fii'st 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 con-
tinence : 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. Irenteus, 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 in-
structions, was emphatically styled ** the
preacher." The design of it is to shoAV
the vanity of all sublunary things, in order
to which the author enumerates the seve-
ral objects upon which men place their
happiness in this life, and then discovers
the emptiness and insufficiency of all
worldly enjoyments, by many various re-
flections 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
ECCLESIASTES.
ECCLESIASTICUS.
305
asserts that the creatures of God are vain,
and all things as nothing; it was also
thought to contain some dangerous o])i-
nions, and some ])articular expressions
that might infuse doubts concerning the
immortality of the soul.
The word Ecclesiostes, which is Greek,
signifies a preacher. The Hebrews call it
Coheleth,\\\\\c\i literally signifies a collector,
because it is supposed to be a sermon or
discourse delivered to an assembly. The
Talmudists will have Kinglfezekiah to be
the author of it. Kimchi ascribes it to
Isaiah, and Grotius to Zorobabel ; but the
book itself afibrds no foundation for these
conjectures. On the contrary, as observed
by ^Ir. Holden, " The author is expressly
styled in the initiatory verse, the son of
iJaricl, 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 con-
current 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 Scrip-
tures. The writer is likewise represented
as abounding in wealth and treasure, &c.,
extremely applicable to Solomon." Mr.
Holden, and Mr. Desvoeux, in their very
learned and exhaustive dissertations, com-
pletely refute the really shallow objections
of Grotius, Dathe, Eichhorn, and others,
as to Solomon's authorship. They do not,
however, quite agi'ee as to the scope of
the book. Mr. ])esvoeux (to whom ]}r.
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 siomnum
hoium, 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 wis-
dom : . . . and every part of the discourse,
when considered in reference to this object,
tends to develope the nature of true wis-
X
dom, to display its excellence, or to re-
commend its acquirement." So Bishop
Gray : " he cndeavoin*s to illustrate the
insufficiency of earthly enjoyment ; not
witli design to excite in us a disgust to
life, but to influence us to prepare for that
state where there is no vanity." Ecclesi-
astes may justly be considered as a sequel
to the ]?ook of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes, ac-
cording 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. Put this may be wholly
owing to Solomon's method of disputing
jiro and con, and jn'oposing 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; notwith-
standing which, some have questioned
whether Solomon be saved, and his repent-
ance 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, aniV Deacon.)
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOKIANS.
(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 instruc-
tion, but not of infaUible 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 in-
forms 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 tliis book, which St.
Jerome saw, was entitled Proverbs. By
many of the ancients it was styled Uavape-
rog, the hook of every virtue : but the most
common name among the Greeks is, 77ie
Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach. This
book was written under the high priest-
hood of Onias HI., 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 vicAv the subject and thoughts express-
ed 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
306
ECLECTICS.
EDIFICATION,
v.'isdom ; 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, pro-
phets, 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 l)y the
grandson of the author, must stand for the
original ; and from that the English trans-
lation was made.
Parts of Ecclesiasticus are strikingly like
the style of Solomon, and truly Hebraic
in then- 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 difiorence 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 kXtyw, to select. They pre-
ferred 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 founda-
tion of that sect, afterwards distinguished
by the name of the New Platonists, in the
Alexandrian School. — Browjhton,
ECONOMICAL. The economical me-
thod of disputing was that in which the
disputants accommodated themselves, as
much as possible, to the taste and preju-
dices of those whom they Mere endeavour-
ing to gain over to the truth. Some of
the early Christians carried this conde-
scension too far, and abused St. Paul's ex-
ample. (1 Cor. ix. 20.) The word is
derived from oiKovofila, dispensatio rei fa-
iniUaris, the discretionary arrangement of
things in a house according to circum-
stances.
ECONOMIST. {(Econo^mis.) An officer
in some cathedrals of Ireland, chosen peri-
odically by the chapter out of their own
body, whose office is to manage the com-
mon estate of the cathedral, to see to the
necessary repairs, pay the church officers,
Szc—Jebb.
ECONOMY ESTATE, or FUND. In
some Irish cathedrals the common fund,
for the support of the fabric, the pajTnent
of the inferior church officers, and some-
times certain members of the choir, is so
called. It is not divisible among the ca-
thedral body themselves. About half the
cathedrals in Ireland are destitute of any
common or corporate fund whatever. —
Jebb.
ECUMENICAL. (From oUovfiEvr}, the
u-o)id.) A term applied to general coun-
cils of the Church, to distinguish them
from provincial and diocesan synods. (See
Councils.)
EDIFICATION. Literally, a huilding
up ; and in the figurative language of the
New Testament, a growing in grace and
holiness, w'hether 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 " edi-
fication," says Dean Sherlock, in his reso-
lution 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 signi-
fication of the word which our translators
render by " edification," is a house or build-
ing ; and this is the proper sense wherein
it belongs to the Christian Chm-ch : " 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 fram-
ed together, groweth unto an holy temple in
the Lord." (Ephes. ii. 21.) Hence the go-
vernors of the Church are called builders,
and the apostles are called " labourers to-
gether with God," in erecting this spmtual
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