There were also several other veils, to note this by the way, in other parts of the church; for Paulinus' speaks often of veils before the doors of the church, and St. Jerom commends Nepotian, for that among other parts of his concern for the decency of the church, as he took care that the altar, and the walls, and the pavement should be kept clean, so also that the doors should have their keepers, and the gates their veils. In like manner Epiphanius, speaking of the church of Anablatha in Palestine, says, "he found a. veil hanging before the doors of the church, which he tore in pieces, not because it was a veil, but because it had the image of Christ or some saint painted on it, which was contrary to the rules of the Christian Church. He therefore ordered the guardians of the church to bury some poor man in it, and sent them at his own expense another plain one in its stead." There were also veils between the pillars of the Hyperoa, or women's galleries, to be drawn in time of the oblation, as Du Fresne has observed out of Paulus Silentiarius, and Amphilochius in the Life of St. Basil. And some others of like nature will easily be observed by a curious reader.

SECT. 9.-The highest Part of the Chancel called Apsis, Exedra, or Conchula Bematis.

At the upper end of the chancel was commonly a semicircular building, which from the figure and position of it, is by some authors called Apsis, and Exedra, and Conchula Bematis: for these are words that signify any arched or spherical building, like the canopy of heaven, to which St, Jerom applies the name of Apsis. It was called Concha, because in figure it resembled something the fashion of a shell, as Du Fresne shows out of Procopius and Paulus

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1 Paulin. Natal. Felic. 3. Aurea nunc niveis ornantur limina velis. Id. Natal. 6. Pulchra tegendis vela ferant foribus. 2 Hieron. Epitaph. Nepotian. Erat sollicitus, si niteret altare, si parietes absque fuligine, si pavimenta tersa, si janitor creber in portâ, vela semper in ostiis, &c. 8 Epiphan. Ep. ad Johan. Hierosolym. Inveni ibi velum pendens in foribus ejusdem ecclesiæ, &c. * Du Fresne, Com. in Paul. Silentiar. p. 551. 5 Hieron. lib. 2. in Ephes. c. iv. 223. In summo cœli fornice, et ut ipso verbo utar, apside.

Silentiarius and Paulinus and other writers. Du Fresne1 thinks it is also called Exedra by St. Austin, who says the conference between the Catholics and Emeritus, the Donatist bishop, was held in the Exedra of the church; which he interprets the place where the bishop and presbyters had their usual residence in the upper end of the Bema beyond the altar. But Valesius2 and other learned men take Exedra here, in the common sense, for one of the outer buildings of the church. And it is not easy to determine so nice a controversy between them.

SECT. 10. This anciently the Place of the Thrones of the Bishop and his Presbyters.

However this is certain, that the bishop's throne, with the thrones of his presbyters on each side of it, were always fixed in this part of the church, in a semicircle above the. altar. For anciently the seats of the bishop and presbyters were joined together, and all called thrones, as is evident from Eusebius's description of the temple of Paulinus, who3 says, "he adorned it with thrones set on high for the honour of the presidents or rulers of the people;" that is, the bishop and presbyters together. Hence it is that Nazianzen, speaking of the presbyters* as the rulers of the people, and venerable senate of the Church, calls their seats "the second thrones." Constantine, in his Letter to Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse, summoning him to the council of Arles, uses the same phrase, bidding him bring with him "two of the second throne," that is, two presbyters. I know indeed Carolus à Sancto Paulo by those of the second throne' understands bishops, in opposition to primates or metropolitans, which he reckons to be those of the first throne.

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1 Aug. de Gestis cum Emerito. tom. vii. p. 250. Cùm Deuterius, episcopus metropolitanus unà cum cæteris episcopis in exedram processissent, præsentibus presbyteris et diaconis et universo clero, ac frequentissimâ plebe, &c. Vid. Du Fresne, Com. in Paul. Silentiar. p. 565. Not. in Euseb. de Vit. Const. lib. iii. c. 50. θρόνοις τοῖς ἀνοτάτω εἰς τὴν τῶν προέδρων τιμὴν, &c.

πρεσβύται Σεμνὴ γερεσία.

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2 Vales.

8 Euseb. lib. x. c. 4.

Naz. Carm.

Iambic. 23. Πρῶτον μὲν δι τὰ δεύτερα θρόνων Λελογχοτες, λαξ προεδροὶ Ap. Euseb. lib. x. c. 5. Avo yέ Tivas 6 Carol. à S. Paulo, Geograph. Sacr. p, 47.

ἐκ τῶ δευτέρω θρόνο.

But the use of the phrase, both in Eusebius and Nazianzen,' leads us rather to believe that he meant presbyters, who sat with their bishop in the church upon thrones, as they style them, of the second order. For this, as I have had occasion to show in another place, was the difference between them, that the bishop's was generally termed the high throne, and the presbyters' the second throne; or as Athanasius calls them, the throne, and the joint-chairs or seats of the presbyters. The bishop's throne was otherwise called Bnua, the tribunal; as we may see in Eusebius,* where he relates the censure of the council of Antioch, passed by Paulus Samosatensis, for erecting his throne or tribunal too stately, with a veil or secretum to it, in imitation of the tribunals of secular judges, which they did not allow of in the Christian Church; and hence the whole chancel was sometimes called the Bema, as I have showed before. The Latins more commonly use the names of Sedes and Cathedra for a bishop's throne, for whence come our English names of cathedral and see, a church where the bishop's chair or seat is fixed. The manner of their sitting is noted by Gregory Nazianzen in his description of the church of Anastasia, where he speaks of himself as bishop5" sitting upon the high throne, and the presbyters on lower benches on both sides about him." And so it is described by the author of the Constitutions, and Theodoret," who calls the bishop's throne the middle And there are some learned perseat upon this account. sons who suppose all this to be done in imitation of the Jewish synagogues, in which, according to Maimonides, at the upper end looking toward the Holy Land, the law was placed in the wall in an arch, and on each side the elders were seated in a semicircle. The bishop's seat was usually covered with some decent covering, suitable to the dignity

* Athan. Ep. ad

1 Vid. Naz. Carm. de Vit. suâ. It. Somnium de Templo Anastas. Book ii. chap. ix. n. 7. Book ii. chap. xix. n. 5. Solitar. tom. i. p. 847. Θρόνον και συμψέλλια.

+ Euseb. lib. vii. c. 30.

Nazian. Somn. Anastas. tom. ii. p. 78. 'Eliodai dokɛéσкov vπép≈povos,— ̔Οι δέ μοι ἀμφοτέρωθεν ὑφεδριόωντο γεραῖσι Πόιμνης ἡγεμόνες, &c.

6 Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57.

7 Theodor. lib. v. c, 3.

Bishop Hooper Disc. of Lent. par. ii. chap. 6. p. 249.

• See

of his office and person. As we learn from Athanasius in his second Apology' to Constantius, where he asks, "how they could have any concern for the throne episcopally. covered, who sought to kill the bishop, that sat thereon." And St. Austin seems plainly to allude to this, when he tells Maximinus, the Donatist bishop, "that when bishops came to stand before the tribunal of Christ at the last judgment, they themselves would then have no tribunals, no lofty seats or covered chairs, though such honours were exhibited to them for a time in this world for the benefit and advantage of the Church."

SECT. 11.-And of the Altar or Communion Table.

This doubtless was the posture anciently of the thrones of the bishop and presbyters in the Christian Church, as they are represented in the several models of the primitive structures. From which it will be easy to observe further, that the place of the communion table or altar was not close to the wall at the upper end, but at some little distance from it; so as that the bishop's throne might be behind it, and room enough left in a void space to encompass or surround the altar. This seems pretty plain from an expression in Synesius, who speaking of his being forced to take sanctuary, says, "he would fly into the church, and encompass the altar;" which implies, that it was set in such manner, as that he might go round it. And this is the meaning of Eusebius, when having first spoken of the thrones of the bishop and presbyters in the church of Paulinus, he then adds, "that he set the holy of holies, the altar, in the middle:" which is not to be interpreted, as some have misunderstood it, of the altar's being placed in the middle of the nave or body of the church, but in the middle of the Bema, or sanctuary, at such a distance from

1 Athan. Apol.2. tom. i. p. 736. Πῶς οἱ θρόνον τὸν ἐςολισμένον ἐπισκοπικῶς ὀδυρόμενοι, τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ καθήμενον ἐπίσκοπον ἀνελεῖν ζητᾶσιν. Aug, Ep. 203. In futuro Christi Judicio nec apsidæ gradatæ, nec cathedræ velatæ quæ pro tempore propter Ecclesiæ utilitatem honori nostro exhi3 Synes. Catastasis. p. 303. Kvrλwσopai тd Ivoiasýpiov, &c. 4 Euseb. lib. x. c. 4. Τὸ τῶν ἁγίων ἅγιον θυσιατήριον ἐν μέσῳ θεὶς.

bentur.

the upper end, as that the Synthronus, the seats of the bishop and presbyters, might be behind it. St Austin seems to refer to the same thing, when he says, "the table of the Lord stood in the middle.” And in the council of Constantinople under Mennas it is represented in such a posture, as that it might be encompassed round. For it is said, when the names of Pope Leo and some others, which had been struck out of the diptychs, were inserted again, "the people for joy at the time when the diptychs were read, after the repetition of the creed, ran round about the altar for to hear them." Dr. Hamonds and some other learned men, think not improbably, that this posture of the altar in Christian churches was something in imitation of the altar in the Jewish temple, to which the Psalmist alludes, when he says, "I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar." Psal. xxvi. 6. From whence they suppose the phrase, “ περικυκλον θυσιαsnplov, compassing the altar," in the ancient Rituals, to be taken.

SECT. 12. Both these Names indifferently used in the Primitive Church.

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 any thing will afford matter of controversy to men in a disputing age; but we never read of any such dispute in the primitive Church. 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 together. Mr. Mede thinks it was usually called altar for the two first ages, and that the name, table, is not to be found in any author of those ages now remaining. Ignatius uses only

1 Aug. Serm. 46. de Verbis Domini. tom. x. p. 68. Christus quotidiè pascit. Mensa ipsius est illa in medio constituta. 2 Con. Constantinop. Act. 5. Con. tom. v. p. 185. Τῇ ἁγίε μαθήματος κατὰ τὸ συνηθὲς λεχθεντος, καιρῷ τῶν διπτύχων συνέδραμον ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος κύκλῳ τῷ θυσιαςηρία. 8 Hamond. cont. Blondel. Dissert. i. c. 13. n. 8.

* Mede, Disc. of Altars, p. 386.