is also clear that those who afterwards denied Christ, either in faith or practice, fell from the grace of baptism. But as grace and mercy are always to be found in the bosom of the Almighty, it is provided in the gospel that such might be renewed through faith, repentance, and obedience, and once more received into the flock which they had basely deserted. One instance from the history of primitive christianity will be sufficient to shew their warm feelings upon this subject. An ancient and pious christian being condemned, in the Arian persecution, to suffer the torture of the rack, by a person who had apostatized from the faith, produced before him the white vestment in which he had been clothed at his baptism, and with tears addressed him-" These are the gar"ments that shall accuse thee, when thou shalt ap

pear before the majesty of the Great Judge ;-these "will I diligently keep as a testimony of that ruin "that shall depress thee down into the lake that "burns with fire and brimstone;-these are they "that were girt upon thee, when thou camest pure "out of the holy font; and these are they that shall "bitterly pursue thee, when thou shalt be cast into "the place of flames; because thou hast clothed thy"self with cursing as with a garment, and hast cast "off the sacred obligation of thy baptism, and the "true faith which thou didst then profess and take upon thee."*

* Victor Utic. de persecut. Vand. lib. iii. fol. 43.

CHAPTER XI.

Of the Lord's Supper, and the Administration of it in the ancient Church.

THE holy Eucharist, or supper of our Lord, a rite so solemnly instituted, and of such great importance in the christian religion, had place accordingly among the ancients in their public offices and devotions. I shall treat of this in the same method that I did concerning baptism,-considering the persons, the time, the place, and the manner of its celebration.

1. The persons administering were the ordinary pastors and governors of the church, those who were set apart for the ministration of holy offices; the institution was begun by our Lord himself, and the administration of it, by him committed to his apostles and to their ordinary successors to the end of the world. Tertullian says, " * "they never received it from any but the hand of the president," meaning either a particular custom of that church where he lived, or of consecration only. Otherwise the custom was, when the bishop, or president, had by solemn prayers and blessings consecrated the sacramental elements, for the deacons to distribute them to the people, as well to the absent as the present.†

The persons communicating were, at first, the

* De Cor. Mil. c. 3.

Justin Martyr.

whole church, or body of christians, within a certain space, who had embraced the doctrine of the gospel, and been baptized into the faith of Christ. As christians multiplied, and a more exact discipline became necessary, none were admitted to this ordinance till they had arrived at the degree of the faithful. Catechumens, who were under instruction for baptism, those under the censures of the church, or who had not passed through the several stages of penitents, were not admitted. For the Lord's supper being the highest and most solemn act of religion, they thought that they could not be sufficiently careful in dispensing it. Some were debarred from the communion for different periods, and some were not admitted till they had continued their repentance to their death-bed. It was customary to send the Eucharist by the deacons, or inferior officers, to such as were sick, or were absent from any other just cause. A custom also arose to give the sacrament to the dead upon this ground, that they might give some kind of evidence that these persons died in the peace and communion of the church, but this was afterwards abrogated and laid aside; they gave it also to newbaptized infants. In some cases it was kept in their houses, to fortify and strengthen their faith in times of persecution, and to increase kindness and amity with one another.*

1

The causes of these early aberrations from the primitive institution, and the primitive practice, are too obvious to require a remark; but surely they are sufficient to put us upon our guard that we may not be led astray by the delusion even of our best intentions.

2. With respect to time;-it was in general at their public assemblies, on the Lord's day always, or the first day of the week, as we find in the history of the apostles' acts, besides other days, especially Saturday, on which day all the churches in the world (except those of Rome and Alexandria) used to celebrate the sacrament.* The time of the day was uncertain; our blessed Saviour and his apostles celebrated it at night, the time of the Jewish passover: the church of Corinth, according to St. Paul, probably in the morning. It is called a supper, Chrysostom thinks, not because it was done in the evening, but to remind them of the time when our Lord instituted these holy mysteries. Pliny says," in the morning before day;" thus accommodating to times of persecution. With respect to how often they communicated ;-while the spirit of christianity was warm, every day, or as oft as they came together for public worship. The canons apostolical, and the synod of Antioch, required every one of the faithful who came to church to hear the Holy Scriptures, under pain of excommunication, if they remained not to participate of the Lord's supper; the eye of their minds being then almost wholly fixed upon the memory of their crucified Saviour; and the oftener they fed at his table, the stronger and healthier they found themselves, and the better able to encounter opposition. Cyprian says, "We receive the Eucharist every day, as the food that nourishes us to salvation." In the time of Basil,

* Socrates, c. v. 22.

they communicated four times a week,-on the Lord's day, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and upon festivals. Afterwards, as the power of religion began more sensibly to decline, this sacrament was more rarely frequented, and from once a day, it came to once or twice a week; afterwards to once a month, and after to thrice a year,-at the three great solemnities of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide; to so great a coldness and indifference did the piety and devotions of christians grow, after once the true primitive temper and spirit of the gospel left the

world.

3. The place where this holy supper was kept, was always, during public worship, in their religious assemblies. It was instituted by our Saviour in a private house, because of its analogy to the Jewish passover, and the necessity of the time. By the apostles and christians, in the houses of believers, generally in an upper room set apart for the uses of the church. During persecutions, they fled to the mountains, and to the crypts aud vaults, and celebrated the sacrament at the tombs of martyrs, and over the ashes of the dead. Churches assuming some beauty and regularity, several parts of divine offices began to have several places assigned to them; the communion service being removed to the upper or east end of the church, and there performed upon a table of wood, which afterwards was changed into one of stone, sometimes metaphorically styled altars; and the Eucharist itself, in later times especially, the sacrament of the altar. This place was fenced with rails, within