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Besides Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, Tertullian mentions an order of Readers, "2Lectores, whose office it was to read the Scriptures to the people. He speaks also of an order of Widows; and 5 complains that a Bishop, in direct violation of the discipline of the Church, had admitted into that order a Virgin who had not attained her twentieth year. The third Book of the Apostolic Constitutions is entitled Tepi xnρŵv-and it is there directed, in conformity to the injunction of "St. Paul, that no Widow shall be appointed who has not attained the age of sixty: 5 she was moreover to have been only once married-a restriction also founded on St. Paul's injunction. Widows De Præscript.

42 Hodiè Diaconus, qui cras Lector. Hæret. c. 41. See Bingham, L. iii. c. 5.

43 Plane scio alicubi Virginem in Viduatu ab annis nondum viginti collocatam; cui si quid refrigerii debuerat Episcopus, aliter utique salvo respectu disciplinæ præstare potuisset. De Virginibus vel. c. 9. See also de Monogamiâ, c. 16. Habet Viduam utique, quam adsumat licebit; and de Exhortatione Castitatis, c. 12. Habe aliquam uxorem spiritalem, adsume de Viduis.

Titus ii. 3.

44 1 Tim. v. 3 to 11. 45 So Tertullian ad Uxorem, L. i. c. 7. Quum Viduam allegi in ordinem nisi univiram non concedit; and de Monogamiâ, c. 11. sub in. De Virginibus vel. c. 9. Ad quam sedem præter annos sexaginta non tantum univiræ, id est, nuptæ, aliquando eliguntur, sed et matres et quidem educatrices filiorum: scilicet, ut experimentis omnium affectuum *structæ facile norint cæteras et consilio et solatio juvare, et ut nihilominus ea decucurrerint, per quæ fœmina probari potest.

who had brought up families appear to have been preferred; because their experience in the different affections of the human heart rendered them fitter to give counsel and consolation to others, and because they had passed through all the trials by which female virtue can be proved. The duty of the Widows consisted in administering to the wants of the poor; in attending upon the sick; in instructing the younger females of the community, in watching over their conduct and framing their morals. 46 They were not allowed to perform any of the ministerial functions; to speak in the Church, to teach, to baptise, &c. They were maintained out of the common stock, and had a higher place allotted them in the public assemblies. St. Paul appears to speak of Widows in the strict sense of the word: subsequently the name was given to females 17 who had led a life of celibacy, and generally to

47

46 Non permittitur mulieri in ecclesiá loqui, (1 Cor. xiv. 34.) sed nec docere, nec tinguere, nec offerre, nec ullius virilis muneris, nedum sacerdotalis officii sortem sibi vindicare. De Virgin. vel. c. 9. One of Tertullian's charges against the Heretics is, that they allowed their females to perform these various acts. De Præscriptione Hæretic. c. 41. Compare de Baptismo, c. 1. sub fine, c. 17. Females, however, might prophesy, agreeably to St. Paul's direction, 1 Cor. ix. 5. Cæterum prophetandi jus et illas habere jam ostendit, quum mulieri etiam prophetanti velamen imponit. Adv. Marcionem, L. v. c. 8.

47 Ignatius ad Smyrnæos, sub fine.

the order of Deaconesses. According to 48 Hammond there were two sorts of xnpai-that is, as he translates the word, lone women, Deaconesses, who were for the most part unmarried females; and Widows properly so called, who being childless and helpless, were maintained by the Church: he supposes St. Paul to speak of the latter. 49 Suicer on the contrary says, that the Deaconesses were originally Widows; and that the admission of unmarried females was of a subsequent date. The reader will find in 50 Bingham all the information which Ecclesiastical antiquity supplies on the subject.

In addition to the notices which may be collected from the writings of Tertullian respecting the constitution of each particular Church and the distinction of orders in it,51 we learn from them that Synods were in his time held in Greece, composed of deputies from all the

48 Note on 1 Tim. v. 3.

49 Sub voce diaкóviσσα.

50 L. ii. c. 22.

51 Aguntur præterea per Græcias illa certis in locis concilia ex universis Ecclesiis, per quæ et altiora quæque in commune tractantur, et ipsa repræsentatio totius nominis Christiani magnâ veneratione celebratur.- Conventus autem illi, stationibus prius et jejunationibus operati, dolere cum dolentibus, et ita demum congaudere gaudentibus norunt. De Jejuniis, c. 13.

Churches; who might be considered as representing the whole body of Christians dispersed throughout Greece. These meetings were always preceded by solemn fasts, and opened with prayer. In them all 52 the more important questions which arose from time to time were discussed; and thus the unity of doctrine and discipline was preserved. Baronius supposes that Tertullian alludes to particular councils which were convened at that time by Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome, for the purpose of condemning the Montanists; others suppose that he alludes to councils held by the Montanists themselves a supposition which in my opinion is at variance with the whole context. He appears to me to speak without reference to any particular council, and to describe a general custom.

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As the converts from Heathenism, 55 to use Tertullian's expression, were not born, but became Christians, they went through a course of instruction in the principles and doctrines of the Gospel, and were subjected to a strict probation, before they were admitted to the

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For instance, it was determined in these councils what writings were, and what were not, to be received as genuine parts of Scripture. De Pudicitiâ, c. 10.

53 Fiunt, non nascuntur, Christiani. Apology, c. 18,

rite of baptism. In this stage of their progress they were called Catechumens; of whom, according to 54 Suicer, there were two classesone called Audientes, who had only entered upon their course, and begun to hear the word of God-the other σvvaιToÛvtes, or competentes, who had made such advances in Christian knowledge and practice as to be qualified to appear at the font. Tertullian, however, appears either not to have known or to have neglected this distinction; since he applies 55 the names of Audientes and Auditores indifferently to all who had not partaken of the rite of baptism. When the Catechumens had given full proof of the ripeness of their knowledge and of the stedfastness of their faith, they were baptised, admitted to the table of the

54 Sub voce κατηχούμενοι.

55 An alius est Intinctis Christus, alius Audientibus? And again, Itaque Audientes optare Intinctionem, non præsumere oportet. De Pœnitentiâ, c. 6. In the same chapter Tertullian speaks of the Auditorum tyrocinia, and applies the title of Novitioli to the Catechumens. In the Tract de Idololatriâ, c. 24. we find the following distinction. Hæc accedentibus ad fidem proponenda, et ingredientibus in fidem inculcanda est; and the following in the Tract de Spectaculis, c. 1. Cognoscite, qui quum maxime ad Deum acceditis, recognoscite, qui jam accessisse vos testificati et confessi estis. In the Tract de Præscriptione Hæreticorum, c. 14. our author distinguishes between Doctores and Quærentes. Est utique frater aliquis doctor, gratiâ scientiæ donatus: est aliquis inter exercitatos conversatus; aliquis tecum, curiosius tamen, quærens.

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