Assembly (in Heb. IS'lB, moid', etc.; in Gr. EfocXi)<T('a), a term used in the New Testament to de- note a convocation or congregation of persons legally called out or summoned. See Congregation. (1.) In the usual or secular sense (Acts xix, 39). Asia Minor, in the time of the apostles, was divided into several districts, each of which had its own legal as- sembly. See Asiarch. Some of these are referred to by Cicero, and others by Pliny, particularly the one at Ephesus. The regular periods of such assemblies, it appears, were three or four times a month ; although the}' were convoked extraordinarily for the dispatch of any urgent business. See Asia (Minor). (2.) In the Jewish sense, the word implies a religious meet- ing, as in a synagogue (Matt, xviii, 17); and in the Christian sense, a congregation of believers (1 Cor. xi, 18) ; hence a church, the Christian Church, and is used of any particular church, as that at Jerusalem (Acts viii, 1) and Antioch (Acts xi, 26). See Syna- gogue ; Church.
Masters of Assemblies (fViBbftj! *^"2, baaley' asuphoth', lords of the gatherings; Sept. oi izapa rwv (jwayj-iarniv, Vulg. per magistrorum consilium), is a phrase occurring in Eccles. xii, 11, and supposed to re- fer to the master-spirits or associates of the meetings of the wise and curious (Qi^-H, of the parallel clause), held in Eastern countries, and where sages and philos- ophers uttered their weighty sayings. See Master. The preacher endeavored to clothe the infinitely wise and perfect doctrines which he taught in proper lan- guage. They were the words of truth, and were de- signed to prove quickening to the sluggish soul as goads are to the dull ox (Acts ii, 37). They were re- ceived from the one great shepherd or teacher, and
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came with great power as the sayings of the most wise and eloquent of their learned assemblies ; and they would take hold of the hearts and consciences of men, holding them to the obedience of the truth, as nails driven through a sound board firmly bind and fasten it where we will (see Stuart, Comment, in loc). Heng- Btenberg, however {Comment, in loc), fancifully under- stands the participators in the sacred collection (or apo- thegms of Scripture) to be meant. See Ecclesiastes.
Assembly, General, in Scotland, Ireland, and the United States, denotes the highest court of the Presbyterian Church. It differs from the Anglican Convocation at once in its constitution and in its powers, representing as it does both the lay and the clerical elements in the Church, and possessing su- preme legislative and judicial authority in all matters purely ecclesiastical. The General Assembly of the Established Church of Scotland consists of representa- tives, clerical and lay, from all the presbyteries of the Church. The royal burghs of Scotland also return elders to the General Assembly of the Established Church, and each of the Scottish universities sends a representative. The Assembly meets once a year in the middle of May, at Edinburgh, and sits for ten days. Its deliberations are presided over by a moderator, whose election is the first step in the proceedings, after a sermon by his predecessor. In former times this office was sometimes filled by laymen : among others, in 1567, by George Buchanan. In modern times the moderator is always a clergyman. 8-1 presbyteries, composing 16 synods, return members to the General Assembly of the Established Church of Scotland. Its relation to the state is represented by a royal commis- sioner, who exercises no function in the Assembly be- yond that of adding by his presence the sanction of the civil authority to its proceedings. The other function- aries are a principal and a deputy clerk, both clergy- men, a procurator, and an agent. All business not dispatched during the session of the Assembly is re- ferred to a commission, with the moderator as con- vener, which meets immediately after the dissolution of the Assembly, and again quarterly. The General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, which has 16 synods, comprising 71 presbyteries, and of the Irish Presbyterian Church, are similarly constituted, the principal point of difference being the absence of the royal commissioner. See Presbytery; Synod; Free Church. For the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, see Pres- byterian Church. — Chambers, Encyclopedia, s. v.
Assembly of Divines. See Westminster.
Asser, or more correctly Ashe, the principal au- thor of the Babylonian Talmud. He was born at Bab- ylon A.l). 353 (A.M. 4113). His Jewish biographers relate that he was appointed head of the college of Sori, in Babylon, at the age of fourteen ! He held this post till liis death in 426. Rabbi Abraham ben- Dim- asserts, in his Kabbalah, p. 68, that since the days of Rabbi Jehuda-Hannasi, or Kabbenu-Hakkadosh, in no one but Ashe had been combined at once knowledge of the law, piety, humility, and magnificence. His fame attracted to his lectures many thousands of stu- dents. I'll'- expositions of the Mislnia which he de- livered in his lectures were collected, and form the basis of the Babylonian Talmud. The continuation was the work of his disciples and followers: it was cool i-d seventy-three years after the death of Ashe by R.Josd, president of the college of Pumbedita in Babylon. (( iompare the Tsemarfi David, first part, in the years 4127 and 4187; Sepher Juchasin, fol. 117; Halichoth Olam, p. 18; Wolfii Bibliotheca Ihbrcea, i, 224.) See Talmud.