ALTAR

(From alt a ara, Lat.; or, according to some, from "jj^, God, and "\f rent divinities. Those of Jupiter and the celestial gods the highest; next, those of Vesta and the terrestrial gods; then the sea gods were to have theirs a little lower, and so on. On festivals they were decorated for the occasion with such flowers and leaves as were sacred to the particular divinity. But besides this casual decoration, the ancient altars furnish us with some of the most elegant ba i reUevi and foliage ornaments that are extant, still serving as models of taste, which have escaped the hands of the barbarian destroyer. According to Vitruvius, their fronts were turned towards the east, though often little regard seems to have been paid to their poiition, as they 37 ALUDEL. were occasionally deposited under the peristyle of a temple, and not unfrequently in the open air. In the larger temples there were often three different altars: the first was in the most sacred part, in front of the statue of the god; the second was before the door of the temple; and the third was portable, called anclabris, on which the offerings and sacred vases were placed. Amongst Christians, the altar is a square or oblong table or tablet, placed at the east end of the church, for the celebration of the ma , or, in Protestant churches, for the celebration of the sacrament. These are varied in their form almost as much as those we have already described. The word Altar was adopted by the early Christians, together with the corresponding Greek term ^virioca--no^tov, (but not, unle , perhaps, in a single instance, ^mfji.o;,) to expre the table of the Lord (1 Cor. x. 21.), But the word altar is stated to have been used by the fathers in four different senses (v. Suicer, in voc. 3-utriociTrr,eiey): for, I. Christ himself, from Hebr. xiii. 10. 2. The church of Christ in general. 3. Individual members of the church. 4. The Lord's table. It is observed that the fathers of the first three centuries universally speak of the altar, and not of the table, although constantly admitting the charge which the heathens made against them of their having no altars, conceiving the term as used by the heathens to imply the offering of a sacrifice upon the altar, and the presence of the statue of the deity to whom the offering is made. From the fourth century the word table is frequently adopted, as by St. Chrysostom, St. August in, . In King Edward I.'s Book of Common Prayer, the word altar was retained in the communion service: but great opposition being raised against it, especially by Bishop Hooper, on account of the ambiguity of its meaning, and the colour it might seem to lend to the Romish notions of the eucharist, it was abandoned, and table substituted throughout. This, however, did not satisfy the more violent party; and on the restoration of the reformed worship at the acce ion of Elizabeth, the people proceeded to take the first step towards a real and not a verbal substitution, by pulling down the altars in many churches. Hereupon the queen i ued an injunction, wherein she declares that " it is no matter of great moment whether there be altars or tables, so that the sacrament be duly and reverentially administered; " and directs that where the altars had been pulled down, tables should be erected in the same place. [s. 50]