CHAPTER II. OF THE ALTAR. 1. THE Altar hath a place in the church on three accounts, as shall be said in speaking of its dedication. We are to know that Noe1 first, then Isaac 2 and Abraham3 and Jacob made, as we read, Altars: which is only to be understood of stones set upright, on which they offered and slew the victims. and burnt them with fire laid beneath them. Also Moses made an Altar 4 of shittim wood: and the same was made as an Altar of incense, and covered with pure gold: as we read in the xxvth chapter of Exodus, where also the form of the Altar is described. From these of the ancient fathers, the Altars of the moderns have their origin, being erected with four horns at the corners. Of which some are of one stone, and some are put together of many. 2. And sometimes the words Altare and Ara are used in the same sense. Yet is there a difference. For altare, derived from alta res, or alta ara, is that on which the Priests burnt incense. But ara, which is derived from area, or from ardeo, is that on which sacrifices were burnt.* 3. And note, that many kinds of Altars are found in Scripture as a higher, a lower, an inner, an outer; of which each hath both a plain and a symbolical significa2 GEN. xxvi, 25, xxxiii, 20. 3 GEN. xiii, 18. 1 GEN. viii, 20. 4 EXODUS XXvii, 1. * The true Ecclesiastical distinction between altare and ara is that the former means the Altar of the true GOD, and is therefore alone used in the Vulgate, answering to the greek Ovσiaστηolov, as opposed to ara (ẞuoc) an altar with an image above it. See Mede. Folio 386. tion. The higher Altar is GOD the TRINITY: of which it is written, THOU SHALT NOT GO UP BY STEPS TO MY ALTAR. And it also signifieth the Church Triumphant: of which it is said, THEN SHALL THEY OFFER BULLOCKS UPON MINE ALTAR. 6 But the lower Altar is the Church Militant, of which it is said, IF THOU WILT MAKE AN ALTAR OF STONE, THOU SHALT NOT MAKE IT OF HEWN STONE. 7 Also it is the Table of the Temple. Of which he saith, APPOINT A SOLEMN DAY FOR YOUR ASSEMBLY EVEN UNTO THE HORNS OF THE ALTAR. 8 And in the Third of Kings it is said that Solomon made a golden Altar. But the interior Altar is a clean heart, as shall be said below. It is also a type of faith in the Incarnation, of which in Exodus, AN ALTAR OF EARTH YE SHALL MAKE ME. 10 And an interior Altar is the Altar of the Cross. This is the Altar on which they offered the evening sacrifice. Whence in the Canon of the Mass it is said, Jube hoc in sublime Altare Tuum perferri.11 Moreover the external Altar representeth the Sacraments of the Church of which it is said, EVEN THINE ALTARS, O LORD OF HOSTS, MY KING AND MY GOD. 12 Again, the Altar is our mortification in our heart, in which carnal motions are consumed by the fervour of the HOLY SPIRIT. 4. Secondly, it also signifieth the Spiritual Church: and its four horns teach how She hath been extended into 5 EXODUS Xx, 26. 9 III KINGS vi, 22. 6 PSALM li, (Miserere mei,) 19. 11 This prayer, which immediately precedes the Commemoration of the Dead, runs thus: Supplices Te rogamus, omnipotens DEUS, jube hoc perferri per manus Sancti Angeli Tui, in conspectu Divinæ Majestatis Tuæ: ut quotquot ex hac Altaris participatione sacrosanctum FILII Tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione cælesti et gratia repleamur. Per. 12 PSALM lxxxiv, (Quam dilecta,) 4. the four quarters of the world. Thirdly, it signifieth CHRIST, without Whom no gift is offered acceptable to the FATHER. Whence also the Church addresseth Her prayers to the FATHER through CHRIST alone. Fourthly, it signifieth the Body of CHRIST, as shall be explained in the fifth book. Fifthly, it signifieth the table at which CHRIST did feast with His disciples. 5. It is written in Exodus, that in the Ark of the Testament or of the Testimony the Witness was laid up13: that is, the Tables on which the Law was written: and it is said that the Testimony was there laid up, because it was a bearing witness that the law imprinted on our hearts by nature GOD had re-imprinted by writing. Also, there was laid up the golden pot full of manna, for a testimony that He had given the Children of Israel bread from Heaven. And the rod of Aaron, for a testimony that all power is from GOD. And the Second Tables of the Law, in testimony of the covenant in which they had said, ALL THAT THE LORD HATH SPOKEN WE WILL DO. 14 And on these accounts it is called the Ark of the Testimony or Testament; and also the Tabernacle of the Testimony thence deriveth its title. But over the Ark was made a Mercy seat of which we shall speak in the proeme of the fourth Book. In imitation whereof some churches have over the Altar an Ark or Tabernacle, in which the Body of the LORD and relics are preserved. The LORD also commanded that a candlestick should be made of beaten pure gold. It is written in the third Book of Kings, that in the Ark of the Covenant was nothing else than the two Tables of stone which Moses put therein in Horeb: when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel in the day that they came out of the Land of Egypt. 13 Exod. xxv, 16. 14 Exod. xix, 8. 6. And note that in the time of S. Silvester, Pope, 15 Constantine the Emperor built the Lateran church, in which he placed the Ark of the Testament, which the Emperor Titus had brought from Jerusalem, and the golden candlestick with his seven branches. In which Ark are these things: the rings and the staves of gold: the Tables of the Testimony: the rod of Aaron: manna: barley loaves: the golden pot: the seamless garment: the reed: a garment of S. John Baptist, and the scissors with which the hair of S. John the Evangelist was shorn. 7. Man, if he hath an Altar, a Table, a candlestick, and an Ark, he is the Temple of GOD. He must have an Altar, whereon rightly to offer and rightly to distribute. The Altar is our heart, on which we ought to offer. Whence 15 It is very remarkable that no notice whatever is taken of these reliques by Ciampini in his very minute description of the Lateran Basilica: although in his account both of this, and of all the other Basilican churches built by Constantine, he copies verbatim the list of the Donations of the Emperor which is given in the Life of Pope S. Sylvester, compiled by an unknown Librarian of the Vatican. It is clear that either Durandus was misinformed, or that the present passage is corrupt. Again, it is not likely that the vest of S. John Baptist, or the scissors of S. John Evangelist would have been kept in the Ark besides its proper contents. Yet Durandus had obviously some facts to go upon, since the Lateran church, having been originally dedicated to THE SAVIOUR, was now under the Invocation of the two SS. John; and the sufferings of both these Saints were depicted in a very ancient Mosaick, those of the Evangelist having over them the following inscription, which we give as describing a Confession of this Martyr in will, now little known. MARTYRII calicem bibit hic Athleta Johannes Quæ consecrantur libera Roma tibi. To return, we may be satisfied that these Jewish memorials did not exist, since Ciampini, while composing his account, consulted the former writers upon the Lateran Basilica; viz. the poet Prudentius, an unedited MS. of Panvinius, Severanus De Septem Urbis Ecclesiis, and the work of Cæsar Cardinal Rasponus. |