It should here be noticed, that our Church doth not direct sprinkling or aspersion, but affusion or “pouring of water” upon the children to be baptized. It is true the quantity of water to be used is nowhere prescribed, nor is it necessary that it should be; but, however the quantity be left to the minister’s discretion, yet it must be understood to determine itself thus far: first, that the action be such as is properly a “washing,” to make the administration correspond with the institution; and this we should observe as ministers ofChristat large: secondly, that the action be such, as is properly a “pouring of water,” which is the rubrical direction to express that washing at all times when “dipping” is not practised; and this we are bound to observe as ministers of the Church of England in particular; taking it always for granted, that there is a reason for whatever is prescribed in a rubric, and such an one as is not to be contradicted by our private practice, or rejected for the sake of any modes or customs brought in we know not how.
And we should the rather keep to this rule of affusion, because we have in a manner lost that more primitive way of baptizing by immersion. Custom having “certified” in general, that it is the opinion and judgment of all, who bring their children to the font, that they are “too weak to endure dipping.” Or, if we would have their sentiments certified more explicitly, there being a rubric to that purpose, we are sure, as Dr. Wall observes, to find a certificate of the children’s weakness in their dress; and to ask for further satisfaction would be a mighty needless inquiry. I mention this observation of his, as the best apology I know of for our present practice of baptizing by affusion, without any formal declaration being made, according to rubric, of the danger of “dipping.” It is not said we shall ask any questions. And, when we are sure beforehand what would be the answer if the question were asked, we seem under no obligation, as we are under no direction, to put it at all.—Archdeacon Sharp.(SeeAspersion.)
AGAPÆ. Love feasts, or feasts of charity, among the early Christians, were usually celebrated in connexion with theLord’ssupper, but not as a necessary part of it. The name is derived from the Greek wordἀγαπὴ, which signifies love or charity. In the earliest accounts which have come down to us, we find that the bishop or presbyter presided at these feasts. It does not appear whether the food was dressed in the place appointed for the celebration of the feast, or was previously prepared by individual members of the Church at their own homes; but perhaps either of these plans was adopted indifferently, according to circumstances. Before eating, the guests washed their hands, and a public prayer was offered up. A portion of Scripture was then read, and the president proposed some questions upon it, which were answered by the persons present. After this, any accounts which had been received respecting the affairs of other Churches were recited; for, at that time, such accounts were regularly transmitted from one community to another, by means of which all Christians became acquainted with the history and condition of the whole body, and were thus enabled to sympathize with, and in many cases to assist, each other. Letters from bishops and other eminent members of the Church, together with the Acts of the Martyrs, were also recited on this occasion; and hymns or psalms were sung. At the close of the feast, money was also collected for the benefit of widows and orphans, the poor, prisoners, and persons who had suffered shipwreck. Before the meeting broke up, all the members of the Church embraced each other, in token of mutual brotherly love, and the whole ceremony was concluded with a philanthropic prayer.
As the number of Christians increased, various deviations from the original practice of celebration occurred; which called for the censures of the governors of the Church. In consequence of these irregularities, it was appointed that the president should deliver to each guest his portion separately, and that the larger portions should be distributed among the presbyters, deacons, and other officers of the Church.
While the Church was exposed to persecution,these feasts were not only conducted with regularity and good order, but were made subservient to Christian edification, and to the promotion of brotherly love, and of that kind of concord and union which was specially demanded by the circumstances of the times.
At first these feasts were held in private houses, or in other retired places, where Christians met for religious worship. After the erection of churches, these feasts were held within their walls; until, abuses having occurred which rendered the observance inconsistent with the sanctity of such places, this practice was forbidden. In the middle of the fourth century, the Council of Laodicea enacted “that agapæ should not be celebrated in churches;” a prohibition which was repeated by the Council of Carthage, in the year 391; and was afterwards strictly enjoined during the sixth and seventh centuries. By the efforts of Gregory of Neocæsarea, Chrysostom, and others, a custom was generally established of holding the agapæ only under trees, or some other shelter, in the neighbourhood of the churches; and from that time the clergy and other principal members of the Church were recommended to withdraw from them altogether.
In the early Church it was usual to celebrate agapæ on the festivals of martyrs,agapæ natalitiæ, at their tombs; a practice to which reference is made in the epistle of the church of Smyrna, concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp.
These feasts were sometimes celebrated on a smaller scale at marriages,agapæ connubiales, and funerals,agapæ funerales.
The celebration of the agapæ was frequently made a subject of calumny and misrepresentation by the enemies of the Christian faith, even during the earliest and best ages of the Church. In reply to these groundless attacks, the conduct of the Christians of those times was successfully vindicated by Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Origen, and others. But real disorders having afterwards arisen, and having proceeded to considerable lengths, it became necessary to abolish the practice altogether; and this task was eventually effected, but not without the application of various means, and only after a considerable lapse of time.—Riddle, from Augusti and Siegel.
AGAPETÆ. In St. Cyprian’s time certain ascetics (who wished, perhaps, to add to their religious celibacy the additional merit of a conquest over a special and greater temptation) chose persons of the other sex, devoted like themselves to a life of celibacy, with whom they lived under the sanction of a kind of spiritual nuptials, still maintaining their chastity, as they professed, though living, in all things else, as freely together as married persons. These were calledAgapetæ,Subintroductæ,Συνείσακτοι. This practice, however pure in intention, gave rise to the utmost scandal in the Church; and those who had adopted it were condemned severely, both by the individual authority of St. Cyprian, and afterwards by the decrees of councils. See Dodwell’sDissertationes Cyprianicæ.
AGISTMENT. The feeding of cattle in a common pasture for a stipulated price; and hence tithe of agistment is the tithe due for the profit made by agisting. The Irish parliament, in the last century, most iniquitously declared that man an enemy of his country who should demand tithe of agistment.—Jebb.
AGNOETES or AGNOETÆ. (ἀandγνῶμι.) A sort of Christian heretics about the year 370, followers of Theophronius the Cappadocian, who joined himself with Eunomius; they called in question the omniscience ofGod, alleging that he knew not things past in any other way than by memory, nor things to come but by an uncertain prescience.
AGNOETES. Another sort of heretics about the year 535, who followed the errors of Themistius, deacon of Alexandria, who believed thatChristknew not when the day of judgment should happen.
AGNUS DEI. A cake of wax, used in the Romish Church, stamped with the figure of a lamb supporting the banner of the cross. The name literally signifiesThe Lamb ofGod. These cakes, being consecrated by the pope with great solemnity, and distributed among the people, are supposed to possess great virtues. They cover them with a piece of stuff, cut in the form of a heart, and carry them very devoutly in their processions. From selling theseAgnusDeisto some, and presenting them to others, the Romish clergy and religious officers derive considerable pecuniary advantage. The practice of blessing the AgnusDeitook its rise about the seventh or eighth century. It was common in those times to mark converts with the sign of the cross after baptism; and in order to distinguish the converted from heathens, they were commanded to wear about their necks pieces of white wax stamped with the figure of a lamb. This was done in imitation of the heathenish practice of hanging amulets around the neck, as preservatives against accidents,diseases, or any sort of infection. Though the efficacy of an AgnusDeihas not been declared by Romish councils, the belief in its virtue has been strongly and universally established in the Church of Rome. Pope Urban V. sent to John Palæologus, emperor of the Greeks, an Agnus folded in fine paper, on which were written verses explaining all its properties. These verses declare that the Agnus is formed of balm and wax mixed with chrism, and that being consecrated by mystical words, it possesses the power of removing thunder and dispersing storms, of giving to women with child an easy delivery, of preventing shipwreck, taking away sin, repelling the devil, increasing riches, and of securing against fire.
AISLE. (Ala.) The lateral divisions of a church, or of any part of it, as nave, choir, or transept, are called its aisles. (SeeChurch.) Where there is but one aisle to a transept, it is always at the east. In foreign churches the number of aisles is frequently two on either side of the nave and choir; at Cologne there are three. This arrangement is very ancient, since it is found in the Basilicas of St. John, Lateran, and St. Paul, at Rome. In England this was never perhaps the original plan. All, except one on each side, are clearly additions at Chichester, Manchester, St. Michael’s, Coventry, Spalding, and several other churches.
The last bay to the west, or that westward of the porch in the south aisle, is generally a little earlier in character than the rest. It frequently happens, too, that the north aisle is of an earlier type than the south, where there is no reason to suppose them of different dates. There is no sufficient reason assigned for this. The word has been very commonly, but incorrectly, applied to the open space in the nave of churches between the seats of the congregation.
AISE. A linen napkin to cover the chalice used in Bishop Andrew’s chapel, and in Canterbury cathedral, before the rebellion. SeeCanterbury’s Doom, 1646,Neale’s Hist. of Puritans.
ALB. An ample linen tunic with sleeves, named from its colour, (albus, white,) worn next over the cassock and amice. It was at first loose and flowing, afterwards bound with a zone, mystically signifying continence, according to some ritualists; but more probably for the greater convenience of ministering at the communion office. It has been in other points considerably altered from its primitive form in the continental churches subject to Rome; in the Greek churches it more nearly resembles the form of the surplice used in the English Church. Cardinal Bona admits that the alb, as well as the surplice, was ancientlytalaris, that is, reaching to the feet, and it was therefore calledpodérisin the Greek Church. It was made originally of white linen; and was probably the same as the surplice, from which it now differs only in the form of the sleeves, which are not flowing, but closed at the wrists.
The rubrics of King Edward VI.’s First Book prescribed the alb to be worn at the communion by the principal minister and his assistants, and by the bishop at all times of his public ministrations. These rubrics are referred to in our present Prayer Book, in the notice preceding the Morning Prayer: “And here it is to be noted, that such ornaments of the Church, and of the ministers thereof at all times of their ministrations, shall be retained and be in use as were in this Church of England by the authority of parliament, in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI.” Most of our most eminent ritualists, and constitutional lawyers, have considered the rubric of King Edward VI. as still binding in strictness of law. The 58th Canon apparently, but not really, contradicts these rubrics, as it prescribes asurplice with sleeves, to be used at the communion as well as at other services. But it is to be observed that an alb is, in fact, a surplice with sleeves; and by these very rubrics the terms seem to be almost convertible, as the bishop is enjoined to wear asurpliceoralb: and in the rubric after the communion, regulating the Wednesday and Friday services, the priest is to wear a plainalb or surplice. But even if the canon did contradict the rubric, it ought to be remembered that the rubric of 1662 is the final enactment of the Church, and plainly ought to supersede the enactment of 1604. The English alb is enjoined to beplain, that is, not ornamental with lace, or gold, as was the mediæval custom.—Jebb.
ALBATI. A sort of Christian hermits (so called from the white linen which they wore). Anno 1399, in the time of Pope Boniface IX., they came down from the Alps into several provinces of Italy, having for their guide a priest clothed all in white, and a crucifix in his hand: he pretended so much zeal and religion, that he was taken for a saint, and his followers multiplied so fast, that the pope, growing jealous of their leader’s aiming at his chair, sent soldiers, who apprehended and put him to death, upon which his followersdispersed. They professed sorrow and weeping for the sins and calamities of the times, they ate together in the highways, and slept promiscuously like beasts.
ALBIGENSES. Certain religionists who sprung up in the twelfth century. They received their name from a town in Aquitaine, called Albigia or Alby, where their tenets were first condemned in a council held in the year 1176. The Albigenses grew so formidable, that the court of Rome determined upon a league or crusade against them. Pope Innocent III., desirous to put a stop to their progress, stirred up the great men of France to make war upon them. After suffering cruelly from their persecutors, they dwindled by little and little, till the time of the Reformation; when such of them as were left fell in with the Vaudois, and conformed to the doctrine of Zuinglius and the disciples of Geneva. The Albigenses have been frequently confounded with the Waldenses; from whom however it is said that they differed in many respects, both as being prior to them in point of time, as having their origin in a different country, and as being charged with divers heresies, particularly Manicheism, from which the Waldenses were exempt.
ALBIS (Dominica in). SeeLow Sunday.
ALIENATION, ecclesiastically speaking, is the improper disposal of such lands and goods as have become the property of the Church. These being looked upon as devoted toGodand his service, to part with them, or divert them to any other use, may be considered as no less than the sin of sacrilege. Upon some extraordinary occasions, however, as the redemption of captives from slavery, or the relief of the poor in the time of famine, this was permitted; in which cases it was not unusual to sell even the sacred vessels and utensils of the church. Some canons, if the annual income of the church was not sufficient to maintain the clergy, allowed the bishop to sell certain goods of the church for that purpose. By subsequent canons, however, this was prevented, unless the consent of the clergy was obtained, and the sanction of the metropolitan, lest, under the pretence of necessity or charity, any spoil or devastation should be made on the revenues of the church. SeeBing. Orig. Eccl.lib. v. ch. vi. s. 6.
ALIENATION IN MORTMAIN, is the conveying or making over lands or tenements to any religious house or other corporate body.
ALLELUIA, or HALLELUJAH. This is a Hebrew word signifyingPraise theLord, orPraise to theLord. It occurs at the beginning and at the end of many of the Psalms, and was always sung by the Jews on solemn days of rejoicing. An expression very similar in sound seems to have been used in many nations, who can hardly be supposed to have borrowed it from the Jews. Hence it has been supposed to be one of the most ancient words of devotion. St. John retains the word without translation (Rev. xix. 1, 3, 4, 6); and among the early Christians it was so usual to singHallelujah, that St. Jerome says little children were acquainted with it.
In evident imitation of the Jewish custom, the Church has from very early times, at least during the season of Easter, preceded the daily Psalms withAlleluia, orPraise ye theLord. In the Roman and unreformed offices it was disused during certain penitential seasons; while Alleluia was used in other parts of the service also during the Easter season, &c. In the First Book of King Edward VI., Allelujah was sung after “Praise ye the Lord,” from Easter to Trinity Sunday. The response, “The Lord’s name be praised,” was added at the last review. It had been inserted in the Scotch Liturgy in King Charles I.’s time. (SeeGloria Patri.)—Jebb.
ALL SAINTS’ DAY. The festival of All Saints is not of very high antiquity. About the year 610, the bishop of Rome ordered that the heathen Pantheon, a temple dedicated to all the gods, should be converted into a Christian church. This was done, and it was appropriately dedicated to the honour of All Martyrs; hence came the origin of All Saints, which was then celebrated on the first of May. In the year 834 it was changed to November 1st, on which day it is still observed. Our Church having, in the course of her year, celebrated the memories of the holy apostles, and the other most eminent saints and martyrs of the first days of the gospel, deems it unnecessary to extend her calendar by any other particular festivals, but closes her course with this general one. It should be the Christian’s delight, on this day, to reflect, as he is moved by the appointed scriptures, on the Christian graces and virtues which have been exhibited by that goodly fellowship of saints who, in all ages, have honouredGodin their lives, and glorified him in their deaths; he should pray for grace to follow them “in all virtuous and godly living;” he should meditate on the glorious rest that remains for the people ofGod, on which they have entered; heshould gratefully contemplate that communion of saints which unites him to their holy fellowship, even while he is here militant, if he be a faithful disciple of theSaviourin whom they trusted; he should earnestly seek that grace whereby, after a short further time of trial, he may be united with them in the everlasting services of the Church triumphant. The Church of England seems to have been induced to sum up the commemoration of martyrs, confessors, doctors, and saints in this one day’s service, from the circumstance of the great number of such days in the Church of Rome having led to gross abuses, some of which are enumerated in the preface to the Book of Common Prayer.
This day was popularly called “Allhallows day.” “Hallow E’en” in Scotland, and “Holy Eve” in Ireland, means the eve of all Saints’ Day. This day is celebrated as a high festival, orscarletday, at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
ALL SOULS. A festival or holiday of the Romish Church, on which special prayers are made for the benefit of the souls of the departed. Its observance has been traced back to the year 998; about which time, we are told, a certain monk, whose curiosity had led him to visit Mount Ætna, which he, in common with others of that age, verily believed to be the mouth of hell, returned to his abbot with the grave story that he had overheard “the devils within complain, that many departed souls were taken out of their hands by the prayers of the Cluniac monks.” (SeeClugni.) The compassionate abbot took the hint, and set apart the second day of November, to be annually kept by his monks as a day of prayer forAll Soulsdeparted. This local appointment was afterwards changed by the pope into a general one, obligatory on all the Western Churches. The ceremonies observed on this day were in good keeping with the purpose of its institution. In behalf of the dead, persons arrayed in black perambulated the cities and towns, each provided with a loud and dismal-toned bell, which they rang in public places by way of exhortation to the people to remember the souls in purgatory, and give them the aid of their prayers. In France and Italy, at the present day, the annualJour des Mortsis observed, by the population resuming their mourning habits, and visiting the graves of their friends for many years after their decease. At the period of the Reformation, the Church of England abrogated altogether the observance of this day, as based on false doctrine, and as originating in a falsehood.
ALMONER. An officer in monasteries, who had the care of the Almonry. In the cathedral of St. Paul, London, the Almoner had the distribution of the alms, and the care of the burial of the poor. He also educated eight boys in music and in literature, for the service of the Church. The office afterwards was practically that of a Chori-master, or Master of the Boys, and was usually held by a Vicar Choral. SeeDugdale’s History of St. Paul’s.
The Lord High Almoner is a Prelate, who has the disposing of the King’s Alms, and of other sums accruing to the Crown. Till King James I.’s accession, when the office of Dean of the Chapel Royal was revived, he had the care of the King’s Chapel; his office being then analogous to that of the Grand Almoner of France. SeeHeylin’s Life of Laud.
ALMONRY. A room where alms were distributed, generally near to the church, or a part of it. The Almonries in the principal monasteries were often great establishments, with endowments specially appropriated to their sustentation, having a chapel, hall, and chambers for the accommodation of the poor and infirm. The remains of the Almonry at Canterbury, for example, are extensive and interesting.—Jebb.
ALMS. In the primitive Church, the people who were of sufficient substance used to give alms to the poor every Sunday, as they entered the church. And the poor, who were approved and selected by the deacons or other ministers, were exhorted to stand before the church doors to ask for alms, as the lame man, who was healed by Peter and John, at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. The order in our Church is, that these alms should be collected at that part of the communion service which is called the Offertory, while the sentences are in reading which follow the place appointed for the sermon. The intention of the compilers of our service was, that these alms should be collected every Sunday, as is plain from the directions in the rubric; and this, whether there was a communion or not. It is much to be regretted that the decay of charity has caused this good custom to fall into too general disuse; and it is one which all sincere churchmen should endeavour to restore. The alms are, and have immemorially been, collected every Sunday in Ireland.
ALMS-CHEST. Besides the alms collected at the offertory, it may be supposedthat devout persons would make contributions to the poor on entering the church, or departing from it, at evening service; and to receive these alms, it is appointed by the 84th Canon, that a chest be provided and placed in the church.
ALOGIANS. Heretics in the second century, who denied the Divine Logos, or Word, and attributed the writings of St. John, in which the Second Person of the Godhead is so styled, to Cerinthus.
ALTAR. Altar was the name by which the holy board was constantly distinguished for the first three hundred years afterChrist; during all which time it does not appear that it was above once called “table,” and that was in a letter of Dionysius of Alexandria to Xystus of Rome. And when, in the fourth century, Athanasius called it a “table,” he thought himself obliged to explain the word, and to let the reader know that bytablehe meantaltar, that being then the constant and familiar name. Afterwards, indeed, both names came to be promiscuously used; the one having respect to theoblationof the eucharist, the other to theparticipation: but it was always placed altar-wise in the most sacred part of the church, and fenced in with rails to secure it from irreverence and disrespect.—Wheatly.
In King Edward’s first service-book the wordaltarwas permitted to stand, as being the name that Christians for many hundred years had been acquainted withal. Therefore, when there was such pulling down of altars and setting up of tables in Queen Elizabeth’s reign, she was fain to make an injunction to restrain such ungodly fury, and appointed decent and comely tables covered to be set up again in the same place where the altars stood, thereby giving an interpretation of this clause in our communion-book. For the word “table” here stands not exclusively, as if it might not be called an altar, but to show the indifferency and liberty of the name; as of old it was called “mensaDomini,” the table of theLord; the one having reference to the participation, the other to the oblation, of the eucharist.—Bp. Cosin.
It is called analtar, 1. Because, the holy eucharist being considered as a sacrifice, we offer up the commemoration of that sacrifice which was offered upon the cross. 2. We offer, with the action, prayers toGodfor all good things, and we need not fear to call the whole action by the name of a sacrifice, seeing part of it is an oblation toGodof hearty prayers, and it is not unusual for that to be said of the whole, which is exactly true but of one part; and as the wordsacrificemay be used without danger, so also the ancient Church did understand it.
And it is called atable, the eucharist being considered as a sacrament; which is nothing else but a distribution and application of the sacrifice to the receivers; and the proper use of a table is to set food upon, and to entertain guests, both which are applicable to this.—Clutterbuck.
But at the beginning of the Reformation an unhappy dispute arose, viz. whether those tables of the altar fashion, which had been used in the Popish times, and on which masses had been celebrated, should still be continued? This point was first started by Bishop Hooper, who in a sermon before the king, in the third year of his reign, declared, “that it were well, if it might please the magistrate to have altars turned into tables; to take away the false persuasion of the people, which they have of sacrifice, to be done upon altars; because as long,” says he, “as altars remain, both the ignorant people and priests will dream of sacrifice.” This occasioned not only a couple of letters from the king and council, one of which was sent to all the bishops, and the other to Ridley, bishop of London, in both which they were required to pull down the altars; but also that, when the liturgy was reviewed in 1551, the above-said rubric was altered, and in the room of it the priest was directed to stand on the north side of the table. But this did not put an end to the controversy. Another dispute arising, viz. whether the table, placed in the room of the altar, ought to stand altar-wise; i. e. in the same place and situation as the altar formerly stood? This was the occasion that in some churches the tables were placed in the middle of the chancels, in others at the east part thereof, next to the wall. Bishop Ridley endeavoured to compromise this matter, and therefore, in St. Paul’s cathedral, suffered the table to stand in the place of the old altar; but beating down the wainscot partition behind, laid all the choir open to the east, leaving the table then to stand in the middle of the chancel. Under this diversity of usage, things went on till the death of King Edward; when, Queen Mary coming to the throne, altars were again restored wherever they had been demolished; but her reign proving short, and Queen Elizabeth succeeding her, the people, (just got free again from the tyranny of Popery,) through a mistaken zeal fell in a tumultuous manner to the pulling down of altars;though, indeed, this happened for the generality only in private churches, they not being meddled with in any of the queen’s palaces, and in but very few of the cathedrals. And as soon as the queen was sensible of what had happened in other places, she put out an injunction to restrain the fury of the people, declaring it to be no matter of great moment, whether there were altars or tables, so that the sacrament was duly and reverently administered; but ordering, that where altars were taken down, holy tables should be decently made, and set in the place where the altars stood, and so to stand, saving when the communion of the sacrament was to be distributed; at which time the same was to be so placed in good sort within the chancel, as thereby the minister might be more conveniently heard of the communicants in his prayer and ministration, and the communicants also more conveniently and in more number communicate with the said minister. And after the communion, done from time to time, the same holy table was to be placed where it stood before. Pursuant hereunto, this part of the present rubric was added to the liturgy, in the first year of her reign, viz. that “the table, at the communion time, having a fair white linen cloth upon it, shall stand in the body of the church, or in the chancel, where morning and evening prayer are appointed to be said:” which was in those times generally in the choir. But then it is plain from the aforesaid injunction, as well as from the eighty-second Canon of the Church, (which is almost verbatim the same,) that there is no obligation arising from this rubric to move the table at the time of the communion, unless the people cannot otherwise conveniently hear and communicate. The injunction declares, that the holy tables are to be set in the same place where the altars stood, which every one knows was at the east end of the chancel. And when both the injunction and canon speak of its being moved at the time of the communion, it supposes that the minister could not otherwise be heard: the interposition of a belfry between the chancel and body of the church hindering the minister in some churches from being heard by the people, if he continued in the church. And with the same view seems this rubric to have been added, and which therefore lays us under no obligation to move the table, unless necessity requires. But whenever the churches are built so as the minister can be heard, and conveniently administer the sacrament at the place where the table usually stands, he is rather obliged to administer in the chancel, (that being thesanctum sanctorum, or most holy place, of the church,) as appears from the rubric before the Commandments, as also from that before the Absolution, by both which rubrics the priest is directed to turn himself to the people. From whence I argue, that if the table be in the middle of the church, and the people consequently round about the minister, the minister cannot turn himself to the people any more at one time than another. Whereas, if the table be close to the east wall, the minister stands on the north side, and looks southward, and consequently, by looking westward, turns himself to the people.—Wheatly.
Great dispute has been raised in the last age about the name of the communion table, whether it was to be called the Holy Table or an Altar. And indeed anything will afford matter of controversy to men in a disputing age. For the ancient writers used both names indifferently; some calling it Altar, others the Lord’s Table, the Holy Table, the Mystical Table, the Tremendous Table, &c., and sometimes both Table and Altar in the same sentence ... Ignatius uses only the nameθυσιαστήριον,altar, in his genuine Epistles ... Irenæus and Origen use the same name ... Tertullian frequently applies to it the name of Ara Dei and Altare ... Cyprian uses both names; but most commonly Altar ... It is certain they did not mean by the altar what the Jews and heathens meant; either an altar dressed up with images, or an altar for bloody sacrifices. In the first sense they rejected altars, both name and thing. But for their own mystical, unbloody sacrifice, as they called the eucharist, they always owned they had an altar.... In Chrysostom it is most usually termed, “the mystical and tremendous table,” &c. St. Austin usually gives it the name of Mensa Domini, the Lord’s Table. It were easy to add a thousand other testimonies, where the altar is called the Holy Table, to signify to us their notion of the Christian sacrifice and altar at once, that it was mystical and spiritual, and had no relation either to the bloody sacrifices of the Jews, or the idolatries of the Gentiles, but served only for the service of the eucharist, and the oblations of the people.—Bingham.
In the First Book of King Edward, the terms used for this holy table are theAltar, andGod’s Board. In our present Prayer Book, it is styled theTable, theHoly Table, and theLord’s Table. The phrase communion table occurs in the Canonsonly, as in the 20th, and the 82nd. The word altar is used in the Coronation Service. It is employed without scruple by Bishop Overall, one of the commissioners for the revision of the Liturgy in King James I.’s reign, and by those who were employed in the last Review in 1662, who of course understood the real spirit of the Church of England. For example, the following are the words of Bishop Sparrow, one of the Reviewers.
“That no man take offence at the wordAltar, let him know, that anciently both these names,Altar, orHoly Table, were used for the same thing; though most frequently the fathers and councils use the wordAltar. And both are fit names for that holy thing. For the holy eucharist being considered as asacrifice, in the representation of the breaking of the bread, and pouring forth of the cup, doing that to the holy symbols which was done to Christ’s body and blood, and so showing forth and commemorating the Lord’s death, and offering upon it the same sacrifice that was offered upon the cross, or rather the commemoration of that sacrifice, (St. Chrysost. in Heb. x. 9,) it may fitly be called anAltar; which again is as fitly called anHoly Table, the Eucharist being considered as aSacrament, which is nothing else but a distribution and application of the sacrifice to the several receivers.”
And Bishop Cosins, who (Nicholl’sadd. notes, p. 42) speaks of the king and queen presenting their offering “on their knees at God’s altar:” though he adds afterwards, (p. 50,) on the passage “This our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,”—“In which regard and divers others besides, the eucharist may by allusion, analogy, and extrinsical denomination, be fitly called a sacrifice, and the Lord’s table an altar, the one relating to the other; though neither of them can be strictly and properly so called.... The sacrament of the eucharist carries the name of a sacrifice; and the table, whereon it is celebrated, an altar of oblation, in a far higher sense than any of their former sacrifices did, which were but the types and figures of those services, which are performed in recognition and memory of Christ’s own sacrifice, once offered upon the altar of his cross.”
Again, BishopBeveridge, on the necessity, &c., of frequent communion, uses the word; “Upon Sundays and holy days, although there be not such a number, and therefore no communion, yet, however, the priest shall go up to thealtar,” &c.
And Bishop Bull (Charge to the Clergy of St. David’s): “Before the priest goes to thealtarto read the second service,” &c.
Hence, though not presuming to dispute the wisdom of the Reviewers, or, to speak more reverently, the dispositions of God’s providence, whereby the use of the word altar was withheld from our Prayer Book, there can be no doubt that the employment of the word can be justified, if we understand it as the ancient Church understood it.—Jebb.
According to Bingham, the ancient altars were of wood; and he considers that the fashion of stone altars began in the time of Constantine. Stone altars were enjoined by the Council of Epone, (or Albon,) in France,A. D.509 or 517; and throughout the whole of the time to which we look for architectural examples, altars were of stone.
The place of the high altar was uniformly, in England at least, at the east of the church; but in large churches room is left for processions to pass behind it, and in cathedral churches of Norman foundation for the bishop’s throne. Where the end of the church was apsidal, the high altar was placed in the chord of the apse. Chantry altars, not being connected with a service in which processions were used, were placed against the wall, and scarcely an aisle or a transept was without one or more. In form the high altar was generally large and plain, relying for decoration wholly on the rich furniture with which it was loaded; very rarely its front was panelled or otherwise ornamented. Chantry altars were, perhaps, in ninety-nine cases in a hundred, mere slabs built into the wall. At Jervaulx, however, at the end of each aisle, is a large plain altar built up of separate stones, much in the form of a high tomb.In situbut few high altars remain, but chantry altarsin situare frequent enough. They are not, however, often found in the aisles and transepts of our churches, but in places where they would more readily escape observation, as, for instance, under the east window (or forming its sill) of a vestry, or of a parvise, or in a gateway to a monastery, or in private chapels and chapels of castles. Altar stones notin situ, but used in pavements and all places, are almost innumerable, sometimes two or three or more occurring in a single small church. They may be recognised by five little crosses, one in the centre, and one at each corner. The multiplication of altars in the same church is still strictly forbidden in the Eastern Church, as it was in ancienttimes. (VideBingham, book viii. c. 6, § 16.)—Poole.
ALTARAGE, a legal term used to denote the profits arising to the priest or parson of the parish on account of the altar, calledobventio altaris. Since the Reformation there has been much dispute as to the extent of the vicar’s claim upon tithes as altarage. In the 21st Eliz. it was decided that the wordsAlteragium cum manso competentiwould entitle him to the small tithes; but it has since been holden and now generally understood, that the extent of the altarage depends entirely upon usage and the manner of endowment.
ALTAR CLOTH. By the 82nd Canon it is appointed that the table provided for the celebration of the holy communion shall be covered, in time of divine service, with a carpet of silk, or other decent stuff thought meet by the ordinary of the place, if any question be made of it; and with a fair linen cloth at the time of the ministration, as becometh that table. The sovereigns of England, at their coronation, present, as their first oblation, a pall or altar cloth of gold, &c.
ALTAR PIECE. A picture placed over the altar. It is not uncommon in English churches to place paintings over the altar, although it is a practice of modern introduction, and although there would be a prejudice against placing paintings in other parts of the church. The English Reformers were very strongly opposed to the introduction of paintings into the sanctuary. In Queen Elizabeth’s reign, a proclamation was issued against pictures as well as images in churches; and Dean Nowell fell under her Majesty’s displeasure for procuring for her use a Prayer Book with pictures. The Puritans, who formed the religious world of King Charles’s time, both in the Church and out of it, destroyed pictures wherever they could find them, as relics of Popery. We may add that the feeling against pictures prevailed not only in modern times, but in the first ages of the primitive Church. In the various catalogues of church furniture that we possess, we never read of pictures. There is a particular breviat of the things found by the persecutors in the church of Paul, bishop of Cirta, in Numidia, (A. D.303,) where we find mention made of cups, flagons, two candlesticks, and vestments; but of images and pictures there is not a syllable. In Spain, at the Council of Eliberis,A. D.305, there was a positive decree against them. And, at the end of this century, Epiphanius, passing through Anablatha, a village of Palestine, found a veil there, hanging before the doors of the sanctuary in the church, whereon was painted the image ofChrist, or some saint, which he immediately tore in pieces, and gave it as a winding-sheet for the poor, himself replacing the hanging by one from Cyprus. The first mention of pictures we find at the close of the fourth century; when Paulinus, bishop of Nola, to keep the country people employed, when they came together to observe the festival of the dedication of the church of St. Felix, ordered the church to be painted with the images of saints, and stories from Scripture history, such as those of Esther and Job, and Tobit and Judith. (Paulinus,Natal. 9. Felicis, p. 615.) The reader will find a learned historical investigation of this subject in note B to the translation of Tertullian’s Apology in theLibrary of the Fathers, which is thus summed up: 1. In the first three centuries it is positively stated that Christians had no images. 2. Private individuals had pictures, but it was discouraged. (Aug.) 3. The cross, not the crucifix, was used; the first mention of the cross in a church is in the time of Constantine. 4. The first mention of pictures in churches, except to forbid them, is at the end of the fourth century, and these historical pictures from the Old Testament, or of martyrdoms, not of individuals. 5. No account of any picture of ourLordbeing publicly used occurs in the six first centuries; the first isA. D.600. 6. Outward reverence to pictures is condemned. We find frequent allusion to pictures in the writings of St. Augustine. We thus see that the use of pictures in churches is to be traced to the fourth century; and we may presume that the practice of the age, when the Church was beginning to breathe after its severe persecutions, when the great creed of the Church Universal was drawn up, and when the canon of Scripture was fixed, is sufficient to sanction the use of pictures in our sanctuaries. That in the middle ages, pictures as well as images were sometimes worshipped, as they are by many Papists in the present day, is not to be denied. It was therefore natural that the Reformers, seeing the abuse of the thing, should be strongly prejudiced against the retention of pictures in our churches. But much of Romish error consists in the abuse of what was originally good or true. We may, in the present age, return to the use of what was originally good; but being warned that what has led to Popish corruptions may lead to them again, we must be very careful to watch against the recurrence of thoseevil practices to which these customs have been abused or perverted.
ALTAR RAILS, as such, and as distinguished from the chancel screen, were not known in the Western Church before the Reformation. We probably owe them to Archbishop Laud, who, in order to guard against a continuance of the profanations to which the holy table had been subjected, while standing in the nave of the church, or in the middle of the chancel, ordered that it should be placed at the east end of the chancel, and protected from rude approach by rails. As the use of altar rails arose out of, and visibly signified respect for, the great mysteries celebrated at the altar, they were, of course, a mark for the hostility of the Puritans; and accordingly, in the journal of William Dowsing, parliamentary visitor of churches in the great rebellion, we find that they were everywhere destroyed. They have generally, however, been restored; and there are now few churches in England where they are not found. In the East, the altar has been enclosed by a screen or an enclosure resembling our rails, from ancient times. These were at first only the cancelli, orκίγκλιδες, or, as Eusebius styles them,reticulatedwood-work. They were afterwards enlarged into the holy doors, which now wholly conceal the altar, and which Goar admits to be an innovation of later times. (pp. 17, 18.) These are not to be confounded with the enclosure of the choir; which, like the chancel screen, was originally very low, a mere barrier, but was enlarged afterwards into the high screens which now shut out the choir from the church.—Jebb.
ALTAR SCREEN. A screen behind the altar, bounding the presbytery eastward, and in our larger churches separating it from the parts left free for processions between the presbytery and the Lady Chapel, when the latter is at the east end. (SeeCathedral.) These screens were of comparatively late invention. They completely interfered with the ancient arrangement of theApsis. (SeeApsis.) The most magnificent specimens of altar screens are at Winchester cathedral, and at St. Alban’s abbey. In college chapels, and churches where an apse would be altogether out of place, and where an east window cannot be inserted, as at New College, and Magdalene, Oxford, they are as appropriate as they are beautiful.—Jebb.
AMBO. A kind of raised platform or reading desk, from which, in the primitive Church, the Gospel and Epistle were read to the people, and sometimes used in preaching. Its position appears to have varied at different times; it was most frequently on the north side of the entrance into the chancel. Sometimes there was one on each side, one for the Epistle, the other for the Gospel, as may still be seen in the ancient churches of St. Clement and St. Lawrence, at Rome, &c. The word Ambo has been popularly employed for a reading desk within memory, as in Limerick cathedral, where the desk for the lessons in the centre of the choir was so called. The singers also had their separate ambo, and in many of the foreign European churches it is employed by the precentor and principal singers; being placed in the middle of the choir, like an eagle, but turned towards the altar.—Jebb.
AMBROSIAN OFFICE. A particular office used in the church of Milan. It derives its name from St. Ambrose, who was bishop of Milan in the fourth century, although it is not certain that he took any part in its composition. Originally each church had its particular office; and even when Pope Pius V. took upon him to impose the Roman office on all the Western churches, that of Milan sheltered itself under the name and authority of St. Ambrose, and the Ambrosian Ritual has continued in use.—Brouqhton, Gueranger.
AMEDIEU, or Friends ofGod. A kind of religious congregation in the Church of Rome, who wore grey clothes and wooden shoes, had no breeches, girding themselves with a cord; they began in 1400, and grew numerous; but Pius V. united their society partly with that of the Cistercians, and partly with the Soccolanti.—Jebb.
AMEN. This, in the phraseology of the Church, is denominatedorationis signaculum, ordevotæ conscionis responsio, the token for prayer—the response of the worshippers. It intimates that the prayer of the speaker is heard, and approved by him who gives this response. It is also used at the conclusion of a doxology. (Rom. ix. 5.) Justin Martyr is the first of the fathers who speaks of the use of the response. In speaking of the sacrament he says, that, at the close of the benediction and prayer, all the assembly respond, “Amen,” which, in the Hebrew tongue, is the same as, “So let it be.” According to Tertullian, none but the faithful were permitted to join in the response.
In the celebration of theLord’ssupper especially, each communicant was required to give this response in a tone of earnest devotion. Upon the reception, both ofthe bread and of the wine, each uttered a loud “Amen;” and at the close of the consecration by the priest, all joined in shouting a loud “Amen.” But the practice was discontinued after the sixth century.
At the administration of baptism also, the witnesses and sponsors uttered this response in the same manner. In the Greek Church it was customary to repeat this response as follows: “This servant of theLordis baptized in the name of theFather, Amen; and of theSon, Amen; and of theHoly Ghost, Amen; both now and for ever, world without end;” to which the people responded, “Amen.” This usage is still observed by the Greek Church in Russia. The repetitions were given thrice, with reference to the three persons of the Trinity.—Coleman’s Christian Antiquities.
It signifies truly or verily. Its import varies slightly with the connexion or position in which it is placed. In the New Testament it is frequently synonymous with “verily,” and is retained in some versions without being translated. At the conclusion of prayer, as the Catechism teaches, it signifiesSo be it; after the repetition of the Creed it meansSo it is.
It will be observed, that the word “Amen” is at the end of some prayers, the Creed, &c., printed in the same Roman letter, but of others, and indeed generally, in Italics—“Amen.” This seems not to be done without meaning, though unfortunately the distinction is not correctly observed in all the modern Prayer Books. The intention, according to Wheatly, is this: At the end of all the collects and prayers, which the priest is to repeat or say alone, it is printed in Italic, a different character from the prayers themselves, probably to denote that the minister is to stop at the end of the prayer, and to leave the “Amen” for the people to respond. But at the end of theLord’sPrayer, Confessions, Creeds, &c., and wheresoever the people are to join aloud with the minister, as if taught and instructed by him what to say, there it is printed in Roman, i. e. in the same character with the Confessions and Creeds themselves, as a hint to the minister that he is still to go on, and by pronouncing the “Amen” himself, to direct the people to do the same, and so to set their seal at last to what they had been before pronouncing.
AMERICA. (SeeChurch in America.)
AMICE. An oblong square of fine linen used as a vestment in the ancient Church by the priest. At first introduced to cover the shoulders and neck, it afterwards received the addition of a hood to cover the head until the priest came before the altar, when the hood was thrown back. We have the remains of this in the hood.
The “grey amice,” a tippet or cape of fur, was retained for a time by the English clergy after the Reformation; but, as there was no express authority for this, it was prohibited by the bishops in the reign of Elizabeth.
The wordAmiceis sometimes used with greater latitude. Thus Milton, (Par. Reg.iv.,)