who, since it is not prescribed in the Gospel,

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arius, tells us of this very fast of Lent enough to our purpose. Quadragesima sane jejuniorum habet auctoritatem, et in veteribus libris-et ex evangelio, &c.-In qua ergo parte anni congruentius observatio quadragesimæ constitueretur, nisi confini atque contigua Dominicæ Passioni? 61 "The Lent truly of fastings hath authority both in the Old Books, and from out of the Gospel.-In what part therefore of the year more aptly could the observation of Lent be constituted, than in that which is conterminous and next unto the Passion of the Lord ?" (viz. the time of the year wherein the Bridegroom was taken away;) and having fetched the ground and authority of the fast of Lent from the Gospel, he then adds in the following part of the same Epistle, Ut quadraginta illi dies ante Pascha observentur, Ecclesiæ consuetudo roboravit, "That those forty days before Easter be observed, the custom of the Church hath strengthened or corroborated." Yea, the same St. Augustine in the aforesaid thirty-sixth Epistle objected, teaches us the ground of certain other set fasts, to be the days wherein the Bridegroom was taken away. His words are these: Cur autem quartâ et sexta [feria] maxime jejunet Ecclesia, [viz. Catholica,] illa ratio reddi videtur, quod considerato evangelio, ipsâ quartá Sabbati consilium reperiuntur ad occidendum Dominum fecisse Judæi;-deinde traditus est ea nocte quæ jam ad sextam sabbati, qui dies passionis ejus manifestus est, pertinebat: "Now why the Church [Catholic] fasts especially on the fourth and sixth day of the week, that reason or account seems to be rendered, That the Gospel being considered, on the fourth day of the week the Jews are found to have held a council for the killing of the Lord; that afterwards He was delivered up in that night which belonged to the sixth day of the week, which manifestly is the day of His Passion," saith 62 he: which reason from Epiphanius also ye heard before".

e [§ 28. vol. ii. col. 139.] [ 30. vol. ii. col. 80.] [Expos. Fid. c. 22. vol. i. p. 1104. vid. p. 37. sup.]

And St. Augustine again in the same thirty-sixth Epistle, [vol. ii. col. 80.]: Passus est Dominus, quod nullus ambigit, sexta sabbati, quapropter et ipsa sexta recte jejunio deputatur: jejunia quippe humilitatem significant. Unde

dictum est, Et humiliabam in jejunio animam meam: "The Lord suffered (which no man doubts) on the sixth day of the week, wherefore the sixth day of the week also is appointed for fasting; for that fasting signifies our humility: whence it is said, I humbled my soul with fasting."" ovvékaμya, not ouveKáλva. Ps. Ixix. 10.

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refers it to tradition Apostolical;

That for the weekly: now for the anniversary solemnity of Christ's passion, (which in no place had its solemnity without fasting,) we learn from St. Augustine in the fifty-fourth Epistle, to Januarius, that if it was not first constituted by some General Council, (as for certain it was not, but in the Church universally received long before the Council of Nice, before which there had been no General Council, save that of the Apostles themselves,) then it is retained, as commanded and appointed from tradition apostolical. His words are these: Illa autem quæ non scripta, sed tradita custodimus, quæ quidem toto terrarum orbe servantur, datur intelligi vel ab ipsis Apostolis, vel plenariis conciliis, quorum est in Ecclesia saluberrima auctoritas, commendata atque statuta retineri, sicuti quod Domini passio et resurrectio et adscensio in cœlum, et adventus de cœlo Spiritus sancti anniversaria solemnitate celebrantur. "But those things which we keep being not written, but delivered down, which are observed throughout the whole world, it is given us to understand are retained as commended and appointed either from the Apostles themselves, or from plenary [h. e. general] councils; whose authority in the Church is most wholesome; as for example, that the passion of the Lord, and His resurrection and ascension, are celebrated in anniversary solemnity." Thus St. Augustine. But the anniversary solemnity of Christ's passion was not first from any plenary or general 63 council; therefore according to St. Augustine's catholic rule, it was delivered from the Apostles. By which testimony also you may perfectly discern, how St. Augustine's Non invenio in literis evidenter præceptum, "I do not find it in the writing of the Gospels or the Apostles," &c. is nothing contrary, in St. Augustine's judgment, to the fast of Lent's derivation from the Apostles; nor to that authority (although not evident precept) which St. Augustine himself fetched from out of the Gospel for it it is the same St. Augustine, who in his roll of Heresies hath registered it as one part of the Aërians' superaddition to the Arian heresy, that they taught, nec statuta solemniter celebranda esse jejunia, sed cum quisque voluerit jejunandum, ne videatur esse sub lege: "They denied that the set fasts ought solemnly to be cebrleated, but that every one is to [Vol. ii. col. 124.] * Hæres. liii. [vol. viii. col. 18.]

fast then when himself shall please, lest he should seem to be under the Law:" which Damascen expresseth yet more particularly in his Book of Heresies, that this Aerius bade that the fast of the fourth and sixth day of the week, and of the forty days, and Easter, should not be observed, nor any set fasts, certis statisque diebus, negat enim se lege teneri: "No set or stated fasts, for that he saith he is not under the law."

My second witness of this age shall be St. Cyril, the renowned patriarch of Alexandria, and most eminent member of the third General Council; to patriarchs of which see it was entrusted by the first General Council that they should 64 yearly signify beforehand to the rest of the Churches, as well as their own, the true time of Easter. This St. Cyril therefore in his Homilies de Festis Paschalibus gives public notification of the time; in his seventh Homily', thus: 'Apxóμevoi τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ. περιλύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ τρίτῃ τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνὸς, ἑσπέρα σαββάτου, κατὰ τὰς ἀποστολικὰς παραδόσεις “Beginning the holy Lent from" such a day, and "ending the fasts on the third day of the month Pharmuthi, on the Saturday evening, according to the apostolical traditions."

Again, in his fifteenth Homily: 'Αρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ. περιλύοντες δὲ τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνὸς, ἑσπέρᾳ βαθείᾳ, κατὰ τὰς ἀποστоλikas Tapadóσeis "Beginning [this year] the holy Lent from" such a day, "and ending the fasts on the seventh day of the month Pharmuthi, late at night, according to the traditions apostolical."

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And Homily twentieth": οὕτω γὰρ οὕτω νηστεύσωμεν καθαρῶς, ἀρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ· περιλύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνὸς, ἑσπέρα βαθεία, κατὰ τὰς ἀποστολικὰς παραδόσεις· “ 50, so let us keep a pure fast, beginning the holy Lent from❞ such a day, "ending also the fasts on the seventh day of Pharmuthi," h. e. just forty days after, as also above in the two forecited testimonies, "late or far in the evening, according to the traditions apostolical."

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in his public notifications to the Churches

Thus thrice he clearly refers the fasts of Lent to tradition apostolical, as the same St. Cyril, in nineteen other of his Homilies de Festis Paschalibus, preached in so many several years, refers the same fasts of Lent to tradition, appointment, or instruction evangelical.

Homily four, Αρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ 65 ἕκτης καὶ εἰκάδος τοῦ Μεχὶρ μηνὸς τῆς δὲ ἑβδομάδος τοῦ σωτηριώδους πάσχα ἀπὸ νεομηνίας τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνὸς, περιλύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας κατὰ τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς διατάξεις, ἑσπέρα σαββάτῳ, τῇ ἕκτῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνός· ἑορτάζοντες δὲ τῇ ἑξῆς ἐπιφωσκούσῃ κυριακῇ, τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Φαρμουθί μηνός· συνάπτοντες ἑξῆς καὶ τὰς ἑπτα ἑβδομάδας τῆς ἁγίας Πεντηκοστῆς "Beginning the holy Lent from the twentysixth day of the month Mechir," as it were our February, "and [within this Lent] beginning the week of the salutary pasch [or great week before Easter] on the first day of the month Pharmuthi," or April, "and ending the fasts, according to the evangelical constitutions, on the Saturday evening, which is the sixth day of the same month Pharmuthi, [which is punctually forty days after the beginning on the twenty-sixth of Mechir: the Egyptians reckoning thirty days in every month,] and keeping the feast [viz. Easter Day] on the next day, the dawning Lord's day, which is the seventh day of that month Pharmuthi: annexing immediately after also the seven weeks of the holy fifty days' solemnity."

And Homily six”, Ἀρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστ τῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ. καταπαύοντες τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνός, εσπέρα σαββάτῳ, κατὰ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν παράδοσιν “ Beginning the holy Lent from,” &c., “superseding the fasts on the eleventh day of the month Pharmuthi on Saturday evening, according to the evangelical tradition.”

Again Homily nineq, ἀρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ' ἑξ. καταπαύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τοῦ 66 Φαρμουθὶ μηνός, ἑσπέρα σαββάτου, ὡς τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν διαλαλεῖ κήρυγμα. “Beginning the haly Lent from, &c., and "ending the fasts on the seventh day of Pharmuthi, upon Saturday evening, as the evangelical preaching bids."

And Homily ten', Αρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς

ἀπὸ, καὶ θ' ἑξ. περιλύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἐννάτῃ καὶ εἰκάδι μηνὸς, καὶ θ' ἑξ. ἑσπέρᾳ βαθείᾳ, κατὰ τὴν εὐαγγελι κὴν παράδοσιν. " Beginning the holy Lent from,” &c., and "ending the fasting days on the twenty-ninth of," &c., "late at night, according to the evangelical tradition."

And so Homily twenty-five, and Homily twenty-six, and Homily twenty-seven, you have the same testimony with the tenth, in the same words, in three other years.

And Homily elevens, Αρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἐπὶ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ. καταπαύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ, καὶ θ' ἑξ. ἑσπέρα βαθείᾳ, κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν κήρυγμα. “Beginning the holy Lent upon,” &c., “ and ending the fasts on,” &c., [just forty days after] "late in the evening, according to the evangelical preaching.”

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And so Homilies twelve, and thirteen, and fourteen, and sixteen, and seventeen, and eighteen, and twenty-one, and twenty-four, and thirty, you have the same testimony with the eleventh, in the same words, in nine other years.

And Homily twenty-two', Αρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ. περιλύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἑννεακαι δεκάτῃ τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνὸς, ἑσπέρα βαθείᾳ, κατὰ τὰς εὐαγγε λικὰς παραδόσεις. “Beginning the holy Lentfrom,” &c., and "ending the fasts on the nineteenth day of the month Pharmuthi late at night, according to the traditions evangelical." 67 The same testimony in the same words you have Homily the twenty-third.

And Homily twenty-eight", Αρχόμενοι τῆς μὲν ἁγίας τεσσαρακοστῆς ἀπὸ, καὶ θ ̓ ἑξ. καταπαύοντες μὲν τὰς νηστείας τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ τοῦ Φαρμουθὶ μηνὸς, ἑσπέρᾳ βαθείᾳ σαββάτου, κατὰ τὰ εὐαγγελικὰ κηρύγματα. “ Beginning the holy Lent from," &c., and "ending the fasts on the eleventh of Pharmuthi, late on Saturday night, according to the preachings evangelical.” The same testimony you have Homily the twenty-ninth.

In all twenty-two times, in twenty-two Homilies, on twentytwo several years, St. Cyril the patriarch proclaims to the Church the fasts of Lent, according to traditions, appointments, or instructions evangelical or apostolical, as he saith.

[Ad fin. ut sup. p. 161.]
[ Ad fin. ut sup. p. 278.]

u

[Ad fin. ut sup. p. 334.]