Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

"The Almighty, in addressing Job, (ch. 38. 3,) says, 'Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.' People in the East often say to each other, 'Well, Tamby, you have a difficult task before you; gird up your loins.' 'Come, help me to gird this sali, (that is, mantle or shawl,) round my loins; I have a long way to run.' 'Poor fellow! he soon gave it up; his loins were not well girded."" See GIRDLE.

LOIS, the name of a Christian matron, and the grandmother of Timothy, of whose faith the Apostle Paul speaks with great commendation. (2Tim. 1. 5.)

LONG LIFE. The Psalmist says, "With long life will I satisfy him; and show him my salvation." (Psalm 91. 16.) And in the Prophet Isaiah we read, "For as the days of the tree are the days of my people." (65. 22.)

Roberts remarks, "The people of the East have a particular desire for long life; hence one of their best and most acceptable wishes is, 'May you live a thousand years;' 'May you live as long as the aali tree,' that is the banyan or Ficus Indica. I never saw a tree of that description dead, except when struck by lightning; and to cut one down would, in the estimation of a Hindoo, be almost as great a sin as the taking of life. I do not think this tree will die of itself, because it continues to let fall its own supporters, and will march over acres of land if not interrupted. Under its gigantic branches the beasts of the forest screen themselves from the heat of the sun; and under its shade may be seen the most sacred and valued temples of the Hindoos."

781

LOOKING BACK. We read in Genesis 19. 26, that Lot's wife "looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt."

It is the custom in the East, whether walking or riding, for the wife to be behind her husband, as no woman goes before or beside her husband. "The expression from behind him,"" Roberts observes," seems to imply that she was following her husband, as is the custom at this day. When men or women leave their house they never look back, as 'it would be very unfortunate.' Should a husband have left anything which his wife knows he will require, she will not call on him to turn or look back; but will either take the article herself, or send it by another. Should a man have to look back on some great emergency, he will not then proceed on the business he was about to transact. When a person goes along the road (especially in the evening), he will take great care not to look back, because evil spirits would assuredly seize him. When they go on a journey, they will not look behind, though the palankeen or bandy should be close upon them; they step a little on one side, and then look at you. Should a person have to leave the house of a friend after sunset, he will be advised, in going home, not to look back: As much as possible keep your eyes closed; fear not.' Has a person made an offering to the evil spirits, he must take particular care, when he leaves the place, not to look back. A female known to me is believed to have got her crooked neck by looking back. Such observations as the following may be often heard in private conversation: Have you heard that Comaran is very ill?' 'No, what is the matter with him? 'Matter! why he has looked back, and the evil spirit has caught him.""

[graphic][graphic][graphic][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

Metal Looking glasses. From the Egyptian Monuments. LOOKING-GLASS. The words ND maroh, (Exod. 38. 8,) rie, (Job 37. 18,) signify metal mirrors, or "brazen glasses," as the margin of the first passage renders it.

In Exodus 38. 8 we read, in our version, that the laver of brass was made of the looking-glasses of the women assembling at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; this is also the rendering of the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the Arabic, and other translations, as well as the view of the Jewish commentators; but Dr. Boothroyd considers the text to mean that the laver was made under the inspection of the women, not with their mirrors. The Egyptian women took their mirrors with them when they went to their temples; and the Israelitish women were accustomed to carry their mirrors to the most solemn places of worship. They were chiefly made of molten brass polished; hence

they were called a gilyonim, or shining, (Isai. 3. 23,) and were carried in their hands. Their chambers were not ornamented with them, but the chamber doors, Professor Jahn says, were latterly made of a polished stone, in which objects might be obscurely seen, to which he thinks the Apostle Paul refers. (1Cor. 13. 12.) Stone mirrors are noticed very early, but as such mirrors could not have been in any degree equal to those of polished metal, they are rarely alluded to by ancient authors, and then seem to be chiefly used for purposes of ornament, being polished slabs or panels fixed in the walls of wainscoted apartments. For this purpose the Romans preferred what Pliny calls the obsidian stone, which Beckman identifies with the species of vitrified lava now called Icelandic agate.

Sir John Gardner Wilkinson says, "One of the principal objects of the toilet amongst the ladies of Egypt

was the mirror. It was of a mixed metal, chiefly of copper, most carefully wrought and highly polished. The mirror itself was nearly round, inserted into a handle of wood, or stone, or metal, the form of which varied according to the taste of the owner. The same kind of metal mirror was used by the Israelites." In the Egyptian room of the British Museum may be seen various specimens of ancient metal mirrors. There is one with a handle in the shape of a lotus sceptre surmounted by the head of Athor, the goddess of beauty, with an inverted crescent; another with a handle in the shape of a plaited tress of hair surmounted by two hawks; likewise several with handles of wood; one terminates in the head of a hawk-headed deity, in a claft; the other in a kind of standard, having at one end the right symbolic eye; another with an ivory handle in the form of a column, with a lotus capital, and another with a handle of porcelain, in the form of a lotus sceptre; on its upper surface is inscribed the name of "Monthembe, son of Hykkoth." Roberts says, "The Hindoos do not appear to have had mirrors made of silvered glass until they became acquainted with Europeans; but they had them of burnished metal and other articles. Many, even at this day, pour water into a vessel, which they use for the same purpose."

LOOPS, luloth, (Exod. 26. 4;) Sept. aykuλai; Vulg. ansula. These were knots of ribbon, or as in our version "loops," in which the hooks were inserted in order to join the different curtains of the tabernacle together.

LORD. The word i adon, (Gen. 45. 8,) translated "lord," signifies the master, whether commander, ruler, or possessor. 78 "my lord," "sir," is a form used in Hebrew to address any one politely, especially to superiors, even a father, (Gen. 31. 35,) a brother, (Numb. 12. 11,) a royal consort. (1 Kings 1. 17.) A still more obsequious mode of address is that of giving the appellation of "my lord," even to an absent person. (Gen. 32. 5.) The wife also calls her husband "lord." (Gen. 18. 12.)

It does not

The root, Gesenius says, is probably dun, to judge, which idea is closely connected in the Oriental languages with that of to rule, to govern. exist in the rest of the dialects, only in the Phoenician language some traces of it appear to be retained in Adonis, and perhaps in Auodoni (I greet thee, my lord)

of Plautus.

God.

NADONAI, "The Lord," is exclusively applied to Jehovah calls himself Adonai. (Job 28. 28; Isai. 8. 7.) The Hebrew word Jehovah is very frequently translated in our version by the English word, Lord, in conformity with Jewish usage in reference to the ineffable name, which they never pronounce. In our Bibles the word is always printed in small capitals for the sake of distinction; and sometimes also when the original word is not Jehovah, as in Psalm 110. 1, where it reads, "Jehovah said unto my Lord." See JEHOVAH.

LORD'S DAY. We learn from the books of the New Testament, that in the earliest period of the Church, Christians constantly met together on the first day of the week, by Divine authority, to perform their religious services, and especially to commemorate the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The early writers of the Church after the days of the Apostles make frequeut mention of this practice, and furnish a good

account of the manner in which the Lord's day was observed during the first centuries.

Justin Martyr informs us, that " on Sunday all the Christians living either in the city or country met together;" and that on these occasions, after the Scriptures had been read, the president addressed an exhortation to the congregation; that they then broke bread, the president offering up prayers: that is, they celebrated the Lord's supper, and that part of the consecrated elements were sent by the hands of the deacons to the absent members of the church.

Tertullian, speaking of the leading portions of Christian worship, entitles them, Dominica solemnia, that is, "the solemnities of the Lord's day." And in like manner, Pliny, in his report to Trajan of the proceedings of the Christians, describes them as meeting toge ther for religious purposes on a set day.

The Lord's day was always observed as a festival, or day of spiritual rejoicing; fasting, and every appearance of sorrow or humiliation being studiously avoided, even by the more rigid Montanists. But this sacred day was not devoted to any carnal mirth, or unhallowed festivities. On the contrary it was kept holy, and honoured by the public performance of Divine worship. "A true Christian," says Clement of Alexandria, "according to the commands of the Gospel, observes the Lord's day by casting out all bad thoughts, and cherishing all goodness, honouring the resurrection of the Lord, which took place on that day." Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in a letter to the Church of Rome preserved by Eusebius, mentions the observance of the Lord's day, and speaks of it as distinguished by the reading of the Scriptures in the congregation. The resurrection of Our Lord from the dead, and the work of creation, were the great subjects of commemoration and of holy joy on this sacred day. Justin Martyr says expressly, "On Sunday we all meet together, because it is the first day on which God made the world out of chaos, and Jesus Christ Our Saviour rose from the dead; for on the day before Saturday they crucified him, and on the day after Saturday, which is Sunday, he appeared to his Apostles and disciples, and taught them the things which we require you to observe."

This sacred festival was usually denominated, ʼn Kvpiarn, dies Dominicus, "the Lord's day," (Rev. 1. 10;) but sometimes also, Sunday, dies Solis, in compliance with the common phraseology, and when it was necessary to distinguish the day, in addressing the heathen. During the early ages of the Church, it was never entitled "the Sabbath," this word being confined to the seventh day of the week, which continued to be observed by the Jews, and in part also, for a considerable period, by the converts to Christianity.

After the empire had become Christian, the observance of the Lord's day became a frequent subject of legislation. "No sooner was Constantine come over to the Church," says Cave, "but his principal care was about the Lord's day; he commanded it to be solemnly observed, and that by all persons whatsoever. And for those in his army who yet remained in their paganism and infidelity, he commanded them upon Lord's days to go out into the fields, and there pour out their souls in hearty prayer to God. He moreover ordained, that there should be no courts of judicature open upon this day; no suits or trials in law; but, at the same time, any works of mercy, such as emancipating slaves, were declared lawful. That there should be no suits nor demanding debts upon this day, was confirmed by several laws of succeeding empe

rors.

Theodosius the Great, (A.D. 386,) by a second law ratified one which he had passed long before, wherein he expressly prohibited all public shows upon

LORD'S DAY.

the Lord's day, that the worship of God might not be confounded with those profane solemnities. This law the younger Theodosius some few years after confirmed and enlarged; enacting, that on the Lord's day (and some other festivals then mentioned) not only Christians, but even Jews and heathens, should be restrained from the pleasure of all sights and spectacles, and the theatres be shut up in every place. And whenever it might so happen that the birthday or inauguration of the emperor fell upon that day, he commanded that then the imperial solemnity should be put off and deferred till another day. Subsequently these matters were arranged by councils."

"The Lord's day" is a more correct and more Christian appellation of the first day of the week than the "Sabbath." So far were the early Christians from terming it the Sabbath, that many of them kept holy both the Lord's day and the Sabbath day. Yet the Lord's day may now with propriety be termed the Christian Sabbath. The thirteenth Canon of our Church directs, that all manner of persons should keep "the Lord's day, commonly called Sunday, in hearing the word of God read and taught; in private and public prayers; in acknowledging their offences to God, and amendment of the same; in reconciling themselves charitably to their neighbours, where displeasure hath been; in oftentimes receiving the Communion of the body and and blood of Christ; in visiting of the poor and sick; using all godly and sober conversation."

"The religious observance of the Lord's day," says Bishop Stillingfleet, "is no novelty started by some late sects and parties among us; but hath been the general sense of the best part of the Christian world, and is particularly enforced upon us of the Church of England, not only by the Homilies, but by the most ancient ecclesiastical law among us."

With our Saxon ancestors the Lord's day was reverently kept, and its desecration either for business or pleasure strictly guarded against, as is shown in numerous canons of councils, as Berghamsted (A.D. 696), Cloveshoo (A.D.747), Eanham (A. D.1008), and decrees of legislative assemblies, as those under Ina (A.D. 696), Athelstan (A.D. 941,) and Canute (A.D. 1021), which have come down to us. With them the season of rest included the whole period from three in the afternoon of Saturday till daylight on Monday morning, and in this interval all servile works, all trading, travelling, and hunting, were forbidden under heavy penalties. If a master compelled his slave to work at this period, he was fined, and the slave obtained his freedom, but if the slave worked by his own will he was whipped. The conquest of England by the Normans introduced many Romish corruptions from which the Saxons had kept themselves free, each succeeding century saw the Lord's day less regarded, and at length almost superseded by saints' days, and before the Reformation its proper observance had fallen into utter neglect. "The churches," says Bucer, speaking of the state of religion in England in the reign of Edward VI., "are common for ungodly tales and bargains, and at service time the most part are trifling, or occupied with worldly affairs. The removal of such a lamentable state of things was, of course, a primary object with the reformers of our Church." Thus the Short Instruction, translated from the German, and set forth by Archbishop Cranmer, in!1548, says that the Sabbath is profaned when "we do not hear with great diligence and reverence sermons and the most fruitful word of God, when we do not give our minds to prayer and other godly works, but to idleness, eating, drinking, banqueting, dancing, lechery, dicing, carding, backbiting, slandering, and other ungodly

783

works. Bishop Hooper, the martyr, also, after saying that God had given no more holiness to the Sabbath than to other days, proceeds, "That day is always most holy, in the which we most apply and give ourselves unto holy works. To that end did He sanctify the Sabbath day, not that we should give ourselves to idleness, or such ethnical pastime as is now used amongst ethnical people; but being free that day from the travails of the world, we might consider the works and benefits of God, with thanksgiving; hear the word of God; honour Him and fear Him; then to learn who and where be the poor of Christ that want our help." The Homilies declare that "God's obedient people should use the Sunday holily, and rest from their common and daily business, and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of God's true religion and service."

These authorities plainly show, that the strict observance of the Lord's day was no puritanical innovation, although it was pushed to an absurd and unwarrantable length by the Sabbatarians of Queen Elizabeth's time, who preached" that to do any work on the Sabbath was as great a sin as to commit adultery; and that to ring more bells than one on the Lord's day was as great a sin as to commit murder." The rigorous notions which were held on this subject by the Puritans in the next reign, led many persons into the contrary extreme, and induced King James I. to put forth his Book of Sports, in 1618, in which he declared certain games to be lawful on the Lord's day, some of them of an extraordinary kind; but prohibiting the use of them to recusants. The republication of this book by Charles I. gave great offence; and Heylyn, in his History of the Sabbath, vainly endeavoured to parry the attacks which were made upon it.

Baxter gives the following account of the way in which the Sabbath was observed in his early days, which forms an appropriate illustration of the Book of Sports: "I cannot forget that, in my youth, in those late times, when we lost the labours of some of our conformable godly teachers for not reading publicly the Book of Sports, and dancing on the Lord's day, one of my father's own tenants was the town piper, hired by the year, and the place of the dancing assembly was not one hundred yards from our door. We could not, on the Lord's day, either read a chapter, or pray, or sing a psalm, or catechise, or instruct a servant, but with the noise of the pipe and tabor, and the shoutings in the street continually in our ears. Even among tractable people, we were the scorn of all the rabble in the streets, and called puritans, precisians, and hypocrites. when the people by the Book were allowed to play and dance out of public service time, they could so hardly break off their sports, that many a time the reader was fain to stay till the piper and players would give over. Sometimes the morris dancers would come into the church in all their linen and scarfs and antic dresses, with morris bells jingling at their legs; and as soon as common-prayer was read, did haste out presently to their play again."

And

Bishop Blomfield says, I am no advocate for a pharisaical observance of the Christian Sabbath; nor would I interfere with those quiet recreations which different individuals may think fit to allow themselves, provided that no offence be committed against public decorum, nor any shock given to that public opinion of the sanctity of the Lord's day which is a chief security for the continuance of religion amongst us. It is principally with a view to that opinion that I would impress upon the higher classes the importance of an exemplary observance of the day; although it may well be urged upon them with reference to their own interests, as

accountable, dying sinners. What is lawful for one Christian to do upon the Lord's day, may not be lawful for another, with reference to its effects upon his own religious state, or upon that of others. Whatsoever is injurious to either is unlawful; whatsoever does not tend to promote either is unprofitable. And if every person who pretends to any religion would fairly put it to his conscience and reason, what kind of employment on the Sunday would be really most conducive to his own improvement, and to the honour of religion, he would need no casuist to resolve him what might, or might not be done upon the Lord's day. At all events the evil which is to be apprehended at the present moment is not a puritanical strictness of observance, which may be the occasion of hypocrisy, but a laxity, fast verging to a total neglect. And were it otherwise, superstition in an ordinance of this kind is no very terrible thing; whereas irreligion is unspeakably mischievous. In spite of the increased numbers of our churches, in spite of the increased exertions of a zealous and laborious clergy, irreligion is, we fear, not on the wane amongst the poorer classes; and the surest and the most alarming symptom of it is the profanation of the Sabbath."

We cannot do better than conclude this article with the following brief but emphatic summary of Sabbath duties, written by Bishop Jeremy Taylor. "Such works as are of necessity and charity is a necessary duty of the day; and to do acts of public religion is the other part of it. So much is made matter of duty by the intervention of public authority; and though the Church hath made no more prescriptions in this, and God hath made none at all; yet he who keeps the day most strictly, most religiously, he keeps it best, and most consonant to the design of the Church, and the ends of religion, and the opportunity of the present leisure, and the interests of his soul. The acts of religion proper for the day are prayers and public liturgies, preaching, catechising, acts of charity, visiting sick persons, acts of eucharist to God, of hospitality to our poor neighbours, of friendliness and civility to all, reconciling differences; and after the public assemblies are dissolved, any act of direct religion to God, or of ease and remission to servants; or whatsoever else is good in manners, or in piety, or in mercy." See SABBATH.

LORD'S PRAYER. The first form of Christian prayer on record is that which Our blessed Lord himself prescribed for the use of his disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer. (Matt. 6. 9-13; Luke 11. 2-4.)

No account of the use of this prayer in the Apostles' times has come down to us. We find no trace of it in

any of those passages in the Acts which speak of public prayer, nor does any allusion to it occur in the Apostolical Epistles. But the omission, it must be remembered, does not prove that the prayer was not in general use during those times; because it may have been referred to by implication in some or all of those passages which mention public prayer in general terms. It is more remarkable, however, that no reference to this prayer in particular is made by the earliest ecclesiastical writers after the Apostles; in whose works we might naturally have expected some allusion to this prescribed form, as well as to other of Our Saviour's institutions. Justin Martyr says (in his Apology,) that in the Christian assemblies the presiding minister offered up prayer and thanksgiving, as far as he was able, (óon duvaμis avTw,) and that hereupon the people answered Amen! The words όση δύναμις αυτω may mean, with as loud a voice as he could command, and this the old Latin translation may have intended by "totis viribus," which is its rendering; or the expression may perhaps mean,

ter.

as some interpreters suppose, as well as he could, to the best of his ability, relating either to the fervour of the minister's devotion, or to the substance or form of an extempore prayer, ex proprio ingenio, as Tertullian says. If the latter be the true meaning of the expression, it would lead to the conclusion that public prayers were not confined to any precomposed forms; but it would not prove that the Lord's Prayer was not used in addition to the extempore addresses of the officiating minisIn describing the ceremony of baptism, Justin speaks of the use made of "the name of the universal Father," which words may, perhaps, refer to the introductory clause of the Lord's Prayer. Nor is Irenæus much more explicit respecting the use of the Lord's Prayer. He says, however, "Wherefore, also, He (Christ) has taught us to say in prayer, and forgive us our debts; for He is our Father, whose debtors we are, having transgressed his precepts." The same may be said with respect to Clement of Alexandria, who makes evident allusion to the Lord's Prayer in several passages.

Its

The earliest and most express testimony to the use of the Lord's Prayer would be that which is furnished by the Apostolical Constitutions, if the assumed date of that composition were the real one. But as that work cannot be supposed to have been compiled before the third century, no appeal can be made to it for the establishment of any fact during the first and second centuries, not recorded by some other contemporary writer. testimony on this subject is, therefore, not conclusive. The testimonies of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen, fully establish the fact of the public use of the Lord's Prayer in the Church during the second and third centuries. Tertullian not only quotes the Lord's Prayer in various parts of his writings, but has left a treatise De Oratione," On Prayer," which consists of an exposition of this prayer, with some remarks appended concerning customs observed in prayer. In this treatise, (which he is supposed to have written before he went over to Montanism, that is, before the year 200,) Tertullian represents the Lord's Prayer not merely as a pattern or exemplar of Christian petitions, but as the quintessence and ground of all prayer, and as a summary of the Gospel. He calls this form the "legitimate and ordinary prayer;" and says that the use of other prayers ought not to supersede this, which is rather to be regarded as the groundwork or foundation of all. Tertullian recommends the use of (private) prayer three times a day, namely, at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, that is, nine, twelve, and three o'clock. This writer does not mention the doxology at the end; indeed, he speaks of the words, "deliver us from evil," as being the end of the prayer.

Cyprian repeats the sentiments of Tertullian, whom he recognised to a great extent as his guide, in his treatise De Oratione Dominica, "On the Lord's Prayer." In this book, which is composed on nearly the same plan as that of Tertullian, Cyprian is more copious than his predecessor, and serves sometimes to complete and explain his meaning. He calls the Lord's Prayer "Our public and common prayer." His celebrated contemporary, Origen, composed a treatise on prayer (IIept Evxns) about the beginning of the third century; the second part of which is devoted to an exposition of the Lord's Prayer. This writer takes notice of the slight difference which subsists between the two forms recorded by St. Matthew and St. Luke; and is inclined to regard them as two separate prayers, bearing, however, a general resemblance to each other, and substantially the same. He regards this prayer as a form prescribed for the use of all Christians; containing the substance of every petition which a Christian can find occasion to

LORD'S PRAYER

offer to God. In writers of the fourth and fifth centuries we find frequent allusion to the Lord's Prayer, as a form appropriate for public use.

During the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, the use of the Lord's Prayer was restricted to the faithful, or members in full communion with the Church; it being adopted as a maxim that no unbaptized person possesses the privilege of calling God his father. We must not, however, suppose that the contents of this prayer were kept secret from the catechumens; for this prayer is contained in the Gospels, which were in the hands, not only of these persons, but even of the heathen; but it is probable that the Church did not impart to the catechumens the doctrinal and mystical interpretations of this prayer which it had in its possession, the Sacramenta Orationis Dominicæ, of which Cyprian and other writers speak.

It may be interesting to trace the connexion which subsists between the interpretation of the Lord's Prayer and the celebrated system of secret traditional teaching. All expositors of the five first centuries agree that the words "Our Father which art in heaven" are to be taken in a full and mysterious sense, peculiar to Christianity. The doctrine of adoption, and of boldness or confidence of access to God, were explained as a benefit peculiar to the Christian church, unknown alike to Jews and heathens. Attention was called especially to the liberty and equality of all men before God, so that those who in their social capacity are no higher than slaves, have attained to the privileges of children in the kingdom of God; and it was observed that, in this sense, the Gospel is rightly termed a "law of liberty" by St. James, while St. Paul also truly declares that "there is neither bond nor free, but we are all one in Christ Jesus." But this high and consolatory doctrine was not explained to the members of the Church until after their baptism. The fourth petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," was understood by the ancients, almost without exception, in a mystical sense, and was directly applied to the spiritual food of the soul in the Lord's Supper. And it is probable that to each of the petitions in the Lord's Prayer some meaning was attached bearing reference to the Christian mysteries, or the esoteric doctrines of the Church, which were carefully concealed from the catechumens.

The doxology at the end of the Lord's Prayer which is now found in the Gospel of St. Matthew, is generally supposed by critics not to have formed part of the original text of that Evangelist. Tertullian, Cyprian, Origen, and Cyril of Jerusalem, appear to have been entirely unacquainted with it; and it is wanting in the earliest and best manuscripts of St. Matthew's Gospel, according to the testimony of Mill, Wetstein, Bengel, and Griesbach. It is the opinion of the two last-mentioned critics, that it appeared first about the middle of the fourth century, and that it is of Byzantine origin. It is found in the Apostolical Constitutions; and it is not improbable that it may have been incorporated from that work into the text of the Gospel. It is found, also, in the earliest liturgies which have come down to us, but with slight variations of form.

The author of the Apostolical Constitutions enjoins the use of the Lord's Prayer three times a day; a practice afterwards established by the laws of the Church. The Constitutions also require every newly-baptized person to repeat the Lord's Prayer immediately after coming up from the water. After this, the baptized repeated the Creed, in which they had been previously instructed; and this is the "traditio et redditio symboli," so often mentioned by ecclesiastical writers. In the case of infant baptism, the sponsors at first repeated the Lord's

[ocr errors]
[blocks in formation]

Prayer and Creed on behalf of the child for whom they answered; but afterwards, in the Middle Ages, the Church began to dispense with this requirement, and to satisfy herself with the repetition of these formularies by the officiating minister. This lax practice has remained even in the Protestant churches; but a regulation which exists in some countries, of subjecting sponsors to a catechetical examination by the minister previously to admission to their office, is a vestige of the ancient and better practice.

Cyril of Jerusalem is the first writer who expressly mentions the use of the Lord's Prayer at the administration of the holy Eucharist. St. Augustine has also alluded to its use on this solemn occasion. The Ordo Romanus prefixes a preface to the Lord's Prayer, the date of which is uncertain. It contains a brief exposition of the prayer. All the Roman breviaries insist upon beginning Divine service with the Lord's Prayer; but it has been satisfactorily proved that this custom was introduced as late as the thirteenth century by the Cistercian monks; and that it passed from the monastery to the Church. The ancient homiletical writings do not afford any trace of the use of the Lord's Prayer before sermons. Riddle, Manual of Christian Antiquities.

LORD'S SUPPER. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper has always been justly regarded as the most solemn rite of Christian worship. A proof of the importance attached to this sacred institution, if it were needed, might be found in the numerous and violent controversies which have from time to time arisen, concerning doctrines and practices more or less closely connected with it. It is, indeed, painful and humiliating to reflect that a sacrament of love has become an occasion of bitterness and hatred; but this feeling of regret may be in in some degree mitigated when we trace many of the disputes to a sincere, though mistaken, respect for holy things, and to the dictates of a tender and scrupulous, though unenlightened conscience. Blameable as the temper and conduct of many controversialists may be, and mischievous as have been the consequences of their disputes, it must be remembered that even concord and agreement itself, if arising from mere indifference or apathy, would have been an evil of still greater magnitude, inasmuch as it would have been the grave of all religious sentiment. The various names by which the Lord's Supper has been distinguished, if their significancy and bearing be duly considered, furnish almost a complete history of the sacrament itself, with the doctrines and usages connected with it; and may at all events be profitably examined. The reason of these various appellations lies, for the most part, either in some peculiar views relating to the doctrine of the sacrament, or in a preference for some peculiar mode of administration.

The term SecTvov Kuрiaкov, sacra cœna, cœna Domini, Lord's Supper, has an historical reference to the institution of the rite by Our blessed Lord on the night in which he was betrayed, (Matt. 26. 20,31; 1 Cor. 11. 20;) and so it intimates merely that the observance is to be regarded as a commemoration of Our Saviour, and a repetition of his last intercourse with his disciples before his passion. Some critics maintain that this phrase, in the eleventh chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the only passage of Scripture in which it occurs, is not to be regarded as signifying the Lord's Supper, strictly so called, or in its modern acceptation; but denotes rather the feast which accompanied the distribution and partaking of the consecrated elements. This position, however, has not been established; and it

« FöregåendeFortsätt »