went into church. be profaned by heretical assemblies, where impiety would be taught for true religion, and blasphemy offered to God instead of adoration. The cere5. As to the ceremonies of respect used by them when they mony of entered into the church, we find one of pretty general obserwashing their hands, vation, which was the custom of washing their hands and their when they face, in token of innocency and purity, when they went to worship God at the holy altar. Which seems to be taken from that of the Psalmist, [26, 6,] "I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass thine altar." This custom is frequently mentioned by Chrysostom, Eusebius, Tertullian, Synesius, Paulinus, and others, whose testimonies have been already alleged in the former part of this Book', where I had also occasion to shew, that fountains and cisterns of water were commonly set in the atrium, or court before the church, for this very purpose. The ceremony of this no general custom. 6. Another ceremony used by some few, for it was no putting off general custom, was putting off their shoes, when they went their shoes into the house of God. Cassian observes of the Egyptian used by some; but monks, that they always wore sandals instead of shoes, and those they also put off whenever they went to celebrate or receive the holy mysteries 2, thinking themselves obliged to do so, by interpreting literally that intimation of reverence, which was given to Moses and Joshua, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." But others did not understand this as an absolute command, obliging all men precisely to use this ceremony of respect, but only where the custom of any nation had made it an indication of reverence, as it was among the eastern nations in the time of Moses and Joshua. Whence we do not find it mentioned as any general custom prevailing among the primitive Christians: unless perhaps it may be thought to have been so in the Ethiopian or Abyssinian Churches; because, as Mr. Mede 3 1 Ch. 3. s. 6. p. 56. 2 Instit. 1. 1. c. 10. (p. 12.) Nequaquam tamen eas [caligas] pedibus inhærere permittunt, cum accedunt ad celebranda vel percipienda sacrosancta mysteria, illud æstimantes etiam secundum literam custodiri debere, quod dicitur ad Moysen vel ad Jesum, filium Nave: Solve corrigiam calceamenti tui, locus enim, in quo stas, terra sancta est. 3 Discourse on Eccles. 5, 1. (p. 348.) Prohibitum est apud nos ne aut gentes aut canes aut alia hujusmodi animalia in templa nostra intrent. Ita non datur potestas nobis has observed out of Zaga Zabo's account of them in Damianus à Goes, the same custom continues still among them at this day. Which whether it be derived from ancient tradition of their churches, or be a practice lately taken up among them, is not now very easy to be determined. the ancients their en 7. And I think the same resolution must be given to the Whether question about bowing toward the altar at their first entrance used the into churches. Mr. Mede thinks there is no plain demonstra- ceremony tion of it in the ancient writers, but some probability of such a toward the of bowing custom derived from the Jews. For he says, What reveren- altar at tial guise, ceremony, or worship they used at their ingress into trance into God's house in the ages next to the Apostles, and some I be- the church. lieve they did, is wholly buried in silence and oblivion. The Jews before them, from whom the Christian religion sprang, used to bow themselves down towards the mercy-seat. The Christians after them, in the Greek and Oriental Churches, have, time out of mind, and without any known beginning thereof, used to bow in like manner, with their posture toward the altar, or holy table, saying that of the publican in the Gospel, God be merciful to me a sinner! as appears by the Liturgies of St. Chrysostom and St. Basil, and as they are still known to do at this day. Which custom of theirs, not being found to have been ordained or established by any decree or canon of any Council, and being so agreeable to the use of God's people of the Old Testament, may therefore seem to have been derived to them from very remote and ancient tradition. Nothing, therefore, can be known of the use of those first ages of the Church, further than it shall seem probable adeundi templum, nisi nudis pedibus: neque licet nobis in ipso templo ridere, ambulare, aut de rebus profanis loqui, &c. [Conf. Gedde's Ch. Hist. (p. 91.) It is likewise forbidden among us to suffer heathens, or dogs, or any other such creatures, to come within our churches; neither is it lawful for us to go into them otherwise than barefoot; or to laugh, walk, or spit, or speak of secular things, in them. For the churches of Ethiopia are not like the land wherein the people of Israel did eat the paschal lamb, as they were going out of Egypt, where God commanded thein to eat with Kings laid aside their crowns and guards, when they went into the house of the King of kings. they might imitate the Jews.' This is spoken according to the wonted ingenuity of that learned person, who never advances a probability into a demonstration. I shall only add one thing out of Chrysostom, to make his opinion seem the more probable, which I note from the observation of Mr. Aubertin 5, who, among some other instances of reverence paid to God at the reading of the Gospel and reception of baptism, takes notice of this, that when the candidates of baptism came near the baptistery, which in Chrysostom's language is 'the bridechamber of the Spirit and the port of grace,' they were then as captives to fall down before their king, and all to cast themselves together upon their knees. Now if such an act of reverence was performed to God at their entrance into the baptistery, it is not improbable but that some such reverence might also be used at their entrance into the temple. But in matters which have not a clear light and proof, it is not prudent to be over-bold in our determinations. 8. It is more certain, that when kings and emperors went into the house of God, they paid this respect to the place, that they left not only their arms and their guards, but also their crowns behind them; as thinking it indecent to appear in their regalia in the presence of the King of kings, or to seem to want arms and guards when they were under the peaceable roof of the Prince of peace. St. Chrysostom 7 often spends his eloquence upon this custom, and uses it as an argument to persuade all inferiors to a profound reverence, humility, and 5 De Eucharist. 1. 2. (p. 432. ad calc. et p. 433.) Idem enim Chrysostomus fieri debere observat in auditione Verbi Dei: Rex ipse, inquit, incurvat se propter Deum in Sanctis Evangeliis loquentem. Immo et in susceptione baptismi: Postquam ad thalamum Spiritus perveneritis, postquam ad porticum gratiæ accurreritis, et tanquam captivi procideritis coram Rege, omnes similiter in genua vos projicite. óμoù κai Tоbens koλvμßýlpas, ws αἰχμάλωτοι προσπέσητε τῷ βασιλεῖ, ῥίψατε πάντες ὁμοίως ἐπὶ γόνατα. [Grischovius gave up this passage as an erroneous citation: but I have found it, as above, in the Benedictine edition, under the title Oratio Catechetica in dicta Evangelii, &c., as also in Hom. 110, according to Savil, t. 5. p. 714. 30. ED.] 7 Orat. post Redit. ab Exil. t. 4. P. 971. (t. 3. p. 428 c.) Baoiλevs 6 In illud, Simile est Regnum εἰσέρχεται καὶ ῥίπτει ἀσπίδα καὶ διάColor. &c. (t. 8. int. Spuria, p. 104 δημα· σὺ εἰσῆλθες, καὶ ῥόπαλα ἥρ e.) Επειδὰν δὲ καταλάβητε τὸν νυμ πασας. Ἐκεῖνος καὶ τὰ συνθήματα τῆς φῶνα τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐπειδὰν εἰσδρά- βασιλείας ἔξω ἀφίησι· σὺ τὰ συνθή μητε τὴν παστάδα τῆς χάριτος, ἐπει-ματα τοῦ πολέμου ἐνταῦθα εἰσήνεγκας. δὰν πλησίον γένησθε τῆς φοβερᾶς peace, when they came into the courts of God, because they had such examples of their kings before them. The Emperor Theodosius Junior also makes use of the same topic in one of his laws, which was made to regulate the abuses of some, who fled for sanctuary in the church with their arms about them; which profanation was not to be endured in any, since he himself always left his arms without doors, and first laid aside his diadem, the badge of imperial majesty, before he went into the church. Nay, Julian himself had regard to this custom, as Sozomen 9 truly observes out of his Epistle to Arsacius, highpriest of Galatia, where one of the things he would have them imitate the Christians in, was this,-that when they went into the temples of their gods, no man of arms should appear among them. And I have already noted out of Leo Grammaticus 10, how Michael, the Greek emperor, in latter ages was censured for presuming to pass the beautiful or royal gates crowned, at which gates it had ever been customary for his predecessors to lay aside their crowns, when they went into the church. altar often embraced in token of 9. Another very usual piece of respect paid to the altar The doors and pillars and the church, was men's embracing, saluting, and kissing of the them, or any part of them, the doors, threshold, pillars, in church and token of their great love and affection for them. St. Ambrose kissed and takes notice of this in the account he gives of the great consternation they were in at Milan, when the Emperor's orders love and came for delivering up the churches to the Arians. The sol- respect to diers were the men who first brought the welcome news into the church, that the Emperor had revoked his fatal sentence; and they strove who should first get to the altar and kiss it 11, to signify, that all things now were in peace and safety. He alludes, no doubt, to the osculum pacis, the solemn kiss of peace, which the faithful anciently were used to give mutually 8 Edict. Theod. ad calc. C. Ephes. (CC. t. 3. p. 1238 d.) Καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς, οὓς ἀεὶ τῷ δικαίῳ τῆς ἡγεμονίας περ ριστοιχίζει τὰ ὅπλα, καὶ οὓς οὐ πρέπει δίχα δορυφόρων εἶναι, τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ναῷ προσιόντες, ἔξω τὰ ὅπλα καταλιμπάνομεν, ἀποτιθέμενοι τὸ διάSnpa.-Conf. ap. Cod. Theod. 1. 9. tit. 45. leg. 4. 9 L. 5. c. 16. (v. 2. p. 204. 37-) "Οταν εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ φοιτῶσι τῶν θεῶν, 10 See ch. 5. s. 1. p. 64. n. 85. 11 Ep. 33. [al. 20.] ad Marcellin. (t. 2. p. 859 c. n. 26.) Certatim hoc nunciare milites, irruentes in altaria, osculis significare pacis insigne. them. Churches used for private me prayer, as well as to each other in the communion-service, as a testimony of their cordial love and affection for one another. And therefore it cannot be supposed that such salutations of the church or altar were intended as acts of religious worship, but only as civil indications of their love and respect for them. And by this rule we are to interpret all other places of ancient authors, which frequently speak of this custom, as Sidonius Apollinaris 12, Paulinus 13, Prudentius 14, Chrysostom 15, Athanasius 16, Cassiodore 17, and the author of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 18, under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, and several others, who wrote before the superstitious adoration of images had gained any credit in the church: the like respect to this having been also shewed to the book of the Gospels, without any suspicion of adoring the materials of it. 10. I think it not improper also to observe under this head, that churches were many times chosen as the properest places ditation and for private devotion and prayer upon extraordinary occasions. Theodoret 19 observes of Theodosius the Emperor, that the night before he was to engage Eugenius the Tyrant, was by him wholly spent in an oratory, which happened to be in the place where he had pitched his camp.' And in like manner both Athanasius 20 and Socrates 21, and the other historians, public. 12 L. 1. Ep. 5. (p. 28.) Triumphalibus Apostolorum liminibus aftusus, &c. 13 Natal. 6. Felic. (p. 569.) Et lachrymis rigat omne solum, pro Fusus humi. 14 Peristeph. Hymn. 2. in Lau- Apostolorum ac martyrum 15 Hom. 29. [corrige, Hom. 30.] 16 Hom. Adv. eos, qui in homine spem figunt. t. 2. p. 304. (t. 2. p. 499 b. sub fin.).... Пpoσióvтes TO ἁγίῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ, καὶ μετὰ φόβου καὶ χαρᾶς ἀσπαζόμενοι. 17 Hist. Tripart. 1. 9. c. 30. (t. I. p. 309.) Imperator [Theodosius], ingredi limina præsumens, non stans Domino supplicavit, neque genua flexit, sed, pronus in pavimento jacens, Davidicam proclamavit vocem, Adhesit pavimento anima mea, &c. 18 Eccles. Hierarch. c. 2. part. 2. n. 4. p. 252. (t. 1. p. 168 d.).... Καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο, τὴν ἱερὰν ἀσπασάμενος τράπεζαν, πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα παρόντα πρόεισι, κ.τ.λ. 19 L. 5. c. 24. (v. 3. p. 227. 11.) . . . Εὐρὼν οἰκίσκον εὐκτήριον ἐν τῇ τοῦ ὄρους ἀκρωνυχίᾳ, ἐν ᾧ τὸ στρατό πεδον ἦν, πάννυχος διετέλεσε τὸν τῶν ὅλων Δεσπότην ἀντιβολῶν. 20 Ep. ad Serapion. p. 671. (t. I. part. I. p. 270 b. n. 3.) 'O TOÍVVV ἐπίσκοπος ̓Αλέξανδρος ἀκούσας ταῦτα, καὶ πάνυ λυπηθεὶς, εἰσελθὼν εἰς |