ALT 



(in loc.) iinderftands tl>e dirciStion to l>f, "when the ftitcp 

 lay down, to facrilice tlicm to the god near wliofe temple 

 or altar they then were." Dr. Lardiier has given a more 

 fatisfaftory intcrjirctation of tliis palFajje. " Epimenides," 

 fays this judicious writer, " took with him up to the areo- 

 l)agus feveial (lie^p, fome hlack and fume white; and when 

 he let them go, he dircfted that each one, when it lay down, 

 " (hould be facvificed to the god to which it appertained or 

 belonged." Black facrificcs were odcred to fome gods, 

 white to others. Epimenidcs knew not by what god the 

 pcililence had been inlhaed upon the Athenians. When he 

 was delired tn purify the eitr, in order to its deliverance, 

 he chofe out facrifices of different kinds, black (lieep, and 

 white flicep, and led them \ip to the arcopagus : and from 

 that place, the citadel or the feat of tlie fenate, and of the. 

 court of judicature, he fent out tlie flieep, as in the name of 

 the whole city or commonwealth to be facriliced, in order 

 to appeafe the offended deity, whoever he was. A ilieep, 

 with a black fleece, when it lay down, was to be oflered 

 to a deity who delighted in fuch facrifices ; a (lieep with a 

 white fleece was to be offered to a deity, to whom white fa- 

 crifices were acceptable. By this means he hoped to in- 

 gratiate the offended deity, whoever he was." From Laer- 

 tius's relation Dr. Lardner infers, that there were feveral 

 anonymous altai>- at Athens, and in the adjoining countr\'; 

 and that all thcle allar; were in the lingular number ; for 

 each (lieep, when it lay down, was to be facriiiccd to the 

 god to whom it appertained. It appears from the teili- 

 monies of heathen authors, who lived whilil thefe altars 

 with their infcriptions fubfilled, fuch as Diogenes Laertius, 

 Paufanias, Philollratus, and the author of Philopatris, 

 •which Dr. I.ardner has cited, that the infcription upon the 

 altar at Athens was in the fingular number : nor docs it 

 appear that there were any in the plural, " to unknown 

 gods :" and this infcription feems to have been peculiar to 

 the Athenians. To the fame purpofe it is obferved, by tlie 

 ingenious Mr. Hallett, tliat the Athenian altars were 

 erefted, not to the honour of Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, by 

 name, but to that particular god, whoever he was, who hail 

 wrought out their deliverance. Neverthelefs they thought, 

 that this god, though unknown, was one of the idols of 

 the heathen world. The truth, however, was, though they 

 did not know it, that he, who delivered them by his provi- 

 dence from that dillrefs, was the one infinite fnpreme God. 

 And tlierefove St. Paul juiUy fays, that the Athenians wor- 

 fliipped him ; for they w'orlhipped him who removed the 

 plague, whoever he was ; but the true God removed the 

 plague ; therefore they worfliipped the tnie God. And 

 yet, as the apoftle obferves, they worfiiijijied him ignorantlv, 

 that is, tliey were ignorant of his majeily and power, and 

 regarded him as no greater than one of their own idols. 

 Lardner's AVorks, vol. viii. p. ill — 119. Hallett's Notes 

 and Difcourfes on Texts of Scripture, vol. i. p. 307 — 309- 



Altar of AiLim, in AnUqmly, is pretended by fome rab- 

 bins and others to have been ercfted by the firil man foon 

 after the fall; when, being overwhelmed with forrow, a 

 promife \vas made him bv the miniilry of the angel Haziel, 

 that a Redeemer fhould be fent. In gratitude for this news, 

 and for a perpetual remembrance thereof, Adam is faid to 

 have built an altar, and facrificed on it a heifer. 



The reliques of this altar have been mentioned by feveral 

 writers of later ages. 



Altar is fometimes alfo ufed among ChrilUans for a 

 fquare table, placed on the eaiiern fide of the church, railed 

 a little above the floor, and fet apart for the celebration of 

 the euchariil. 



A L T 



Its form is not borrowed either from that of the Hesthen 

 aitars, or even from that of the Jew* in the temple ; but at 

 the euchariil was inllitutcd by Jcfu« Cliiill, at hippcr, and 

 upon a table, the modern altar ii made in form ot a tabic ; 

 whence it is more ufually, and even more figuificanlly deno- 

 minated Communion Table. 



In cflett the denomination altar is founded on this 

 fuppolition, that tlie euchariil is a proper facrifice ; 

 which, though the (landing doftrinc of the church of 

 Rome, is utterly denied by moll of the reformed. Accor- 

 dingly, Bilhop Ilidliy, in the reign of Edw. \'I. A. D. 

 IJ50, iil'ued injunctions for taking down ;dl allan;, and 

 requiring the church-wardens of ever)' paiilh to provide a ta- 

 ble decently covered, and to place it in fuch a part of the 

 choir or chancel as ihould be moll meet, fo that the minillcrs 

 and communicants (hould he feparatcd from the rell of the 

 people. The reafons alledged for thit alteration were thefe : 

 becaufc our Saviour inllituted the Sacrament at a table, and 

 not at an altar : becaufe Chrill is not to be facriiiccd over 

 again, but his body and blood to be fpiritually eaten and 

 drank at the holy fupper, for which a table is more proper 

 than an altar: bccaule the Holy Glioll, fpeaking of the 

 Lord's Supper, calls it the Lord's Table ;" i Cor. x. 2 1. 

 but no where an " altar." The canons of the council of 

 Nice, as well as the fathers St. Chryfollom and St. Auguf- 

 tine, call it the Lord's Table ; and though they fometimes 

 call it an altar, it is to be underllood figuratively. An altar 

 has relation to a facrifice, fo that if we retai'i the one we 

 muft admit the other, which would give great countenance 

 to mafs-prielts : there are many paffages in ancient writers 

 that fnew that communion tables were of wood, that they 

 were made like tables, and that thofe who fled into churches 

 for iancluai7 did hide tliemfclves under them : and the mod 

 learned foreign divines have declared againil them, as Buccr, 

 Oeco'.ampadius, Zuinglius, BuUinger, Calvin, P. Mait)T, 

 Joannes Alafco, Hedio, Capito, &c. and have removed them 

 out of tl;eir feveral churches, and the Lutheran churches 

 only retain ihein. Ridley, Cranmer, Latimer, and the 

 lell of the Englifli reformers were unanimoufly of opinion, 

 that the retaining of altars would ferve only to nourifh in 

 the minds of people the fuperllitious opinions of a propiti- 

 atory mafs, and would miniller an occalion of offence and di- 

 vilion among the godly. Some of the bifliops, however, rc- 

 fufcd to comply with the order of council, and fuffered 

 tliemfclves to be deprived of their bifhoprics for contumacy, 

 October 1 55 1 . The practice of confecrating altars with 

 their furniture wasintroduced and vindicated by .^rchbidlup 

 Laud in the reign of Charles I. but objeded to by Pr^-nne, 

 as having no higher original than the Roman miffal and pon- 

 tilical, in both which there are particular chapters and fet 

 forms of prayer for this purpofe ; and it was alledged that 

 the praftiee, as well as the arguments on which it was 

 founded, have no foundation in reafon or Scripture, and arc 

 contrary to the ufage of the church of England, and the 

 opinion of our liril reformers. To the antiquity of altars it 

 was replied, that though the name is ofttn mentioned in 

 Scripture, yet it is never applied to the Lord's table ; but 

 a'tars and priells are put in oppofition to the Lord's table, 

 and minillcrs of the New Tellament, 1 Cor. is. 13, 14. It 

 wai added, that it cannot be pretended by any law or canon of 

 the church of England, that it is called an altar more than 

 once, Stat, i Edw. VI. c. i. which flatute wa? repealed within 

 three years, and another made, in which the word altar is 

 changed into table. It was faid, that from the unanimous fuf^ 

 frage of moll of the fathers that lived within 3CX) yearn after 

 Chrill, and of our moil leanied rtformer;, it appears, that for 



above 



