I courts k a doobtftil point. Aocordfaig to Tdmn&il , writers, the number of judges was twenty-diret b places where there was a population of 120, and dffee where the population fell below that number (Mishas. Sankedr. i, 6). Joeephus, however, grvea a diifieR^ account; he states {Aid. iv, 8, 14) that the cooit, » constituted by Moses (Dent zvi, 18), ecmaisted ef seven judges, each of whom had two Lerites as e- sessors ; accordingly, in the reform which be csiied out in Galilee, he appointed seven judges for t^ triii of minor offsnces (Wear, ii, 20, 5). The stateaaeBt of Josephus is generally accepted at correct ; bat % should be noticed that these courts were no( ahnrs in ezistence. They may have been inadtoted by Uo- self on what be conceived to be the trae Mosaic moM: a supposition which is rendered probabla by his tethv institution of a council of Seventy, which served ai a court for capital ofiences, altogether independeat af the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem {Ltfe, 14 ; War, ii, 90^ ^ The ezistence of local courts, howerer conatitiited, a clearly implied in the passages quoted from the N.T.; and perhaps i^tjudgmeiU (Matt, v, 21) applies to thoa See Markkt. Under the Roman gOTemment tkre was a provincial court (tfv/i/3ovXiov, Acta xzv, liX • kind of jury or privy coundl, consisting of a certaiB number of assessors (eonM/iam, Suetoo. T9k. 83, io\ who assisted the procurators in the administRtioa ef justice and other public matters. — Smith, a. t. Goas- dl. See JuDOB.
COURT, RoTAL. The natives of the East \ae^ ever been remarkable for a more reverential estima- tion of the state and dignity of a king than has vsvSix prevailed among other people, and to this fact the Us- guage of Scripture bears ample testimony. Altbcsgb on some special occasions we read of the Jewish a»o- archs sitting in the gate with their people (2 Sam. xis, 8 ; Jer. zzzviii, 7), and the profits appear to hire had easy access to them (1 Kings xz, 13 ; 2 Gsrca. zxv, 15), yet it is abundantly evident that regal stite was, in general, fully maintained, with only that ad- mixture of occasional intercourse and familiarity vlud may be noticed by every traveller at the present dsr in the East. Hence it was accounted the height of human felicity to be admitted into that splendid dicie which surrounded the person of the sovereign, a^ they seem to have considered it a good omen if aar one was so fortunate as to behold the fiace of the kiog (Prov. iLxix, 26) ; whence the expression of aedag God (Matt. V, 8) is to be uado- stood as the enjoyment of the highest possible happinew, sseh as his favor and protectios, es- pecially in the life to come. la reference to thia custom, the aa- gel Crabriel replied to Zacbans that he was Gabriel diat stood in the presence of God ; thuia- timating that he was in a strte of high flavor and trust (Lake l 19). Hence to " stand before the king" is a phrase which ia- tended the same as to be oeea- pied in his service, and to pff- form some duty for him (Gea. zli, 46; 1 Sam. zzii, 6, 7). aad imported the most eminent aal dignified statkm at court T^ illustrates the statement of Christ respecting chHdren, ^ h heaven their angels do ahnyv behold the fkce of my F^tkr which is in heaven" (Matt, xviii, 1-10), an allosiQa to the custom of Oriental courts, where the great aiea those who are highest in office and fiavor, are roost fl*> quently in the prinoe's palace and preeenoe (Ertk i il4; 1 Kingsz,8; zii,6; 2King8 zxv,19> bi Bke
COURT
541
COURTESY
manner, the contentions among the apostles for the chief position under Christ shows that they mistook the spiritual nature of his kingdom ; the request of the mother of James and John, that her sons might sit, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left, in his kingdom (Matt zz, 20-28), evidently alludes to the custom -which then obtained in the courts of princes, where two of the noblest and most dignified person- ages were respectively seated, one on each side, next the eovereign himself^ thus enjoying the most eminent places of dignity (1 Kings ii, 19; Psa. zlv, 9; Heb. i, 8). See Kino.
Court, AnroniB, an eminent French Protestant divine, was bom ui 1696 at Yilleneuve-de-Berg (ac- cording to others at La Tour d*Aigues), in Yivarais. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, tlie French Protestant Church was in danger of self- destruction through fanaticism. Under these cir- cumstances. Court, in the synods of Delphinas in 1716 and of Languedoc in 1717, laid the foundation for an ecclesiastical constitution, based tpon the old discipline of the French Churdi. In so doing he met great opposition, -and even* encountered personal peril, yet hb work went on. To obviate the diffi- culty of intrusting the functions of the sacred office to persons lacking the proper ordination, he sent one of his colleagues to Zurich to receive it, and the lat- ter imparted it to the others in a synod held in 1718. With the aid of the government of Berne and the archbishop of Canterbury, Court established in 1729 a seminary at Lausanne, where ministers were prepared for the churches ^ of the DeseH^** as they were called, very appropriately. All the ecclesiastical pajftrs were dated from **the Desert." The duke of Orleans, while regent, was allied with England against Spain, and sought to induce Court to leave France, but the latter remained at his post until his death in 1760. Court wrote Histoire des troubles des CevetmeB, Geneva, 1760, 3 vols. 12mo; Ahiis^ 1819, 8 vols.; Le PatrioU JroM^ois ei impartialj ou Response h la lettre de M, CEvique ^Agm h M,le contrMeur-ghUral corUre la tolerance des Huguenots (Villefr. Geneve, 1761, 1763); lAttre cTuH patriate sur la tolerance civile des Prot. de France (1765), etc. Weiss gives an account of numer- rous MS. writings of Court (preserved in the Geneva library) in his Histoire des Refiigies, ii, 288 (see Cami- sards). See also Coquerel, Histoire des VEglise du Di- sert; Peyrat, Hist, des Pasteurs^ du Desert; Haag, La France Prot. (Paris, 1854) ; Bulletin de la 8oc. de tHist, de Prot. Fr. ; B. Sayons, Hist, de la IMirature Fran- faise a FE'tranger, i, 304, 818 ; Herzog, Real-EncyMop.