745 



ECBATJUM OFFICINARUU. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. 



sometimes made in the glass-house in blowing globes or cylinders of 

 large size : the globular form is first given by means of open hemisphe- 

 rical wooden moulds ; and, to prevent them from being burnt, the 

 workman pours into them a small quantity of water, which protects 

 the wood, and, assuming the spheroidal state, does not cool the molten 



ECBALIUM OFFICINARUM, (Richard), is the name now given to 

 the plant, the unripe fruit of which furnishes the elaterium of the 

 Materia Medica. Its familiar name is Wild Cucumber, or Asses' 

 Cucumber, indicative of its appearance, and hurtful properties to those 

 who incautiously employ it. Its medical or professional employment 

 will generally be sufficiently careful but as its incautious handling 

 even may lead to serious, if not fatal effects, it is proper that these 

 Bhould be guarded against. The exhalation from the fruit, which can 

 readily be absorbed through the human skin, is capable of producing 

 as strong effects as a dose of the substance taken by the mouth. An 

 instance is recorded where a small portion of the plant, with only one 

 or two small fruits on it, carried in the hat for not more than an hour, 

 produced violent headache, vomiting, and purging, followed by a 

 degree of exhausting depression, almost fatal. 



The other points connected with this plant are treated of under 

 MOBMODICA in the NAT. HIST. Div., and under ELATEBIN, in ARTS 



ASD SCI. DlV. 



ECCENTRIC IN MACHINERY. [ExcEHTBic.] 



ECCLESIASTES, or THE PREACHER, a canonical book of the 

 Old Testament, placed after the Proverbs and before the Song of Solo- 

 mon. The English title is adopted from that in the Greek Septuagint 

 ('E<A7jffia<rTT)s, EcdtKOitet), which is a translation of the Hebrew title 

 nbnp> Kolideth, that is, one who calls together or calls out to an assem- 

 bly a public declaimer or preacher. A review of the various learned 

 interpretations of this term is given in Mr. Holden's work on Eccle- 

 siastes, p. 31. Widely different opinions have been expressed by many 

 Biblical critics concerning the author, date, and design of this portion 

 of the Bible. The general supposition that Ecclesiastes was written by 

 Solomon is apparently warranted by the passages i. 1, 12, 16, ii. 4-9, 

 which designate the author as the son of David, king of Israel, and the 

 greatest possessor of wealth and wisdom in Jerusalem. The writers 

 of the Talmud, and Rabbi Kimchi attribute this book, as well as 

 Proverbs and the Song, to King Hezekiah or the prophet Isaiah. The 

 Rev. G. Holden, in his ' Attempt to Illustrate the Book of Ecclesiastes,' 

 ably contends for its authorship by Solomon, in his old age, when he 

 had repented of his former practices, and says, " Many parts of the 

 work itself corroborate this opinion. The acknowledgment of nume- 

 rous follies and delusions implies that it was composed after the author 

 had apostatised from Jehovah, and had subsequently repented of his 

 past misconduct." This view seems by far the best supported by the 

 internal evidence of the book ; notwithstanding the opposition founded 

 on style, and certain asserted minute inconsistencies by many German, 

 French, and English authors. Dr. Adam Clarke (' Preface to Eccle- 

 siastes,' in his ed. of the Bible) asserts that the traditionary notion 

 entertained by the Jews and many Christian divines, as Jerome, Huet, 

 Michaelis, &c., that Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon in his old age, 

 after recovering from idolatry and sensuality, is an assumption which 

 never has been nor can be proved to be true ; for since it wax " when 

 Solomon was old, that his heart was turned away after other gods by his 

 700 wives and 300 concubines " (1 Kings, ii. 3 and 4) ; and as he died 

 about the age of sixty, the supposition of a final period of philosophical 

 and pious contrition is not warranted by probability. " The language," 

 says the same divine, " puzzles me not a little ; Chaldaisms, Syriasms, 

 and Chaldee words are frequent, and the style is that of the authors 

 who lived at or after the captivity." Bishop Lowth remarks that the 

 style is peculiar ; the diction low, exceedingly obscure, loose, uncon- 

 nected, and resembling conversation. (' Praolect.' 24.) The general 

 opinion of the commentators, that the design of the book is to inquire 

 about the tupreme good, and to show that it consists in religious 

 wisdom, is adopted by Mr. Holden, with the idea, also, of its con- 

 sisting of two divisions: the first, to verse 10 of chap, vi., being 

 occupied in setting forth the vanity of all the labours and enjoyments 

 of human life ; the second, in eulogising religious wisdom and describing 

 it* nature and effects. This wisdom has nothing sensual ; it is holy 

 and spiritual ; and forms the ultimate good for creatures who are to 

 be responsible for their actions. The book was included in the canon 

 of the Hebrew Scriptures alluded to and sanctioned by our Saviour in 

 Luke jcxiv. 44, and by St. Paul in 2 Timothy iii. 16. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSIONERS. The Ecclesiastical Com- 

 misaouers are a body corporate, created by the statute 6 & 7 Will. 

 IV. c. 77, for certain purposes and with certain powers therein named. 

 The great inequalities in the extent and income of the dioceses of 

 England and Wales, in the duties and receipts of the cathedral and 

 collegiate bodies, and in the extent of parishes and the annual value of 

 the benefices of the Church of England, after long and angry comments, 

 gave rise in 1835 to the issue of two commissions, directing the 

 jiersons named therein to consider the state of the dioceses with refer- 

 ence, to the amount of their revenues, and the more equal distribution 

 of episcopal duties; and of the several cathedral and collegiate 

 churches, with a view to the suggestion of such measures as might 

 render them conducive to the efficiency of the Established Church ; 

 and further, to devise the belt mode of providing for the cure of souls 



with special reference to the residence of the clergy on their respective 

 benefices. These commissioners made four reports, recommending 

 various alterations, and the appointment of permanent commissioners, 

 for the purpose of preparing and laying before the sovereign in council 

 such schemes as should appear to them to be best adapted for carrying 

 those recommendations into effect ; the Crown being empowered to 

 make orders ratifying such schemes, having the full force of law. The 

 statute above mentioned was passed in consequence ; and under its 

 provisions a great many beneficial alterations have been and are being 

 effected. The recommendations contained in the four reports of the 

 original commissioners have also been carried out, with certain modifi- 

 cations and amendments, to which the sanction of Parliament was 

 required and obtained (see 1 & 2 Viet. cc. 30, 106, 108 ; 2 & 3 Viet. cc. 

 9, 14 ; 3 & 4 Viet. c. 113 ; 4 & 5 Viet. c. 39 ; 6 & 7 Viet. c. 77 ; 10 & 

 11 Viet. cc. 98, 108 ; 13 & 14 Viet. c. 41 ; 16 & 17 Viet. c. 50). The 

 chief features of the alterations thus effected are the equalisation of 

 the territorial extent of the dioceses, the creation of the new sees of 

 Ripon and Manchester, and the union of the sees of Gloucester and 

 Bristol. The revenues of the sees have also been equalised, by 

 augmenting the income of the smaller out of the revenues of the 

 larger. Cathedral and collegiate bodies have also been regulated. 

 The powers and constitution of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have 

 been amended by the stat. 3 & 4 Viet. c. 113, s. 78 : and by the 

 appointment of Church Estates Commissioners, who are ex officio 

 members of the Ecclesiastical Commission (13 & 14 Viet. c. 94; 14 & 

 15 Viet. c. 104 ; 19 & 20 Viet c. 74) ; and, lastly, by the transfer to 

 them of the powers of the Church-Building Commissioners. 



ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS. Tribunals in which the archbishops 

 and bishops exercise jurisdiction over matters within their control. 

 Long previous to the Conquest, during the reigns of the Danish and 

 Saxon kings, the bishops and clergy held synods or councils. (See Sir 

 H. Spelman, Wilkins' ' Concilia,' Johnstone's ' Canons and Constitu- 

 tions.') The bishops also assisted as counsellors in the national 

 Witten-gamotte (the antetype of our parliament), and assisted in 

 common with the shire-reeves, or sheriffs, in the administration of 

 justice. Shortly after the Conquest, William promulgated a charter, 

 whereby he severed civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, thereby creating 

 for the latter a distinct and independent authority, and a law was 

 passed to the effect that no bishop should take cognisance of secular 

 matters, and that no lay tribunal should take cognisance of matters 

 affecting the clergy or relating to the church. Hence may be traced 

 the origin of the present several ecclesiastical courts throughout the 

 land, and their independent jurisdiction has from time to time been 

 confirmed by canons, emanating it is true from ecclesiastical authority, 

 but applied by legislative enactment, sometimes restraining their 

 power, at others confirming and enlarging it. (For example, see 

 13 Edw. I. st. 4, c. 1 ; 9 Edw. I. st. 1, c. 1 ; 50 Edw. III. c. 4; 2 & 

 3 Edw. VI. c. 13 ; and Coke's ' Inst,' 663.) 



It was the policy of the early English monarchy to foster the power 

 of the church as a check to that of the barons or nobles of the land, 

 who struggled to interpose the principles of the feudal law as a barrier 

 to regal assumption. But the sovereign found that the ecclesiastical 

 authority, culminating as it did in the Pope of Rome, he being the 

 ultimate appellee, interfered with, if it did not usurp, his function of 

 government, in as much as it declared the clergy amenable to the 

 ecclesiastical authority alone, be then- offence what it might ; and thus 

 Henry II. caused to be framed, as a check, the ' Constitutions of 

 Clarendon,' whereby the clergy were made amenable to the secular 

 power in secular matters. But the ecclesiastical courts still retained 

 full power to adjudicate upon all matters affecting the clergy in their 

 peculiar vocation, and also upon all spiritual matters affecting the 

 laity (which, in their language, concerned the health of the soul). 

 And thus, even after the Reformation, numbers of persons, even in 

 Protestant times, were sent to the dungeon and the faggot for heresy 

 or unsound doctrine, by these tribunals, from which there was no 

 appeal, and where ofttimes prejudice and zeal usurped the province of 

 justice. 



As far back as July, 1830, a Commission was appointed to inquire 

 into the practice and jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in 

 England and Wales. The report of the Commissioners, which was 

 presented in 1831, was signed by the archbishop of Canterbury, and 

 three of the bishops, the two chief justices, the chief baron, 

 and several other persons of authority and eminence. This report 

 gives the most correct and authentic account which exists of 1. The 

 nature of the ecclesiastical courts; 2. Of the course of proceeding in 

 ecclesiastical suits ; and 3. The nature of the processes, practice, and 

 pleadings of the ecclesiastical courts. Other commissions were ap- 

 pointed by the Crown, and bills have been brought into Parliament 

 from time to time ; and in consequence a great change has at length 

 been effected with regard to the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical 

 courts : they no longer can take cognisance of testamentary causes, 

 nor do they any longer retain the right to grant probate of a will 

 or letters of administration. The act of Parliament, 20 & 21 Viet, 

 c. 77, which came into operation on the llth of January, 1858, has 

 transferred the voluntary and contentious jurisdiction in relation to 

 the granting or revoking wills and letters of administration to a 

 newly constituted court, called the " Court of Probate," its functions 

 to be exercised in the name of the Sovereign, in such place as the 



