J4.2 7he HISTORY of the PuRITANs. Vol. li K. Charles Lil:ood anciently in the midfl: of th~ir churches or choir* ; where the peo– ~ ple might fit, fiand, and go conveniently round them. So it was certain– Vide bp. ly in the jewijh church, as every one allows; and it was fo in the chrif– Williams's tian church, till the very darkefl times of popery, when private mafl'es Ltfe, P· 109· were introduced. Eujebius, DionxJius .Areopagita, Chryfoj'tom, Athanajus; .Auguftine, &c. affirm, that the table of the Lord ftood in the mid– dle if the chancel, (o that they mig,ht compafs it about ; nay Durandus a popiili writer informs us, that when a biiliop confecrates a mw altar, he muft go round about it [even times; by which '·tis evident, it could not fiand againft a wall; but our moft eminent writers agai nft popery, as Bu– cer, biiliop Je'wel, biiliop Babington, biiliop lviorton, and archbilhop Wil– liams, have proved thisfo evidently, that there is no 100111 to call it in quef– tion; and we are able to produce feveral authorities from venerable Bede, St. Auftin tbe firft archbi.tbop of Canterbury and others, that they ftood thus in England in their times. Nor do queen Elizabetb's injunCtions in the leafi favour the archbilhop's practice, of fixing the communion-table to the eaft wall with rails about it, for they order the table tv be rcmo~Jed when tbe jacrammt is to be diflri– buted, and placed in }itch fort witbin the chancel, as 7Vhereby the minijter may be more conveniently heard of tbe communicantlf, and the communicants may more convmiently, and in greater numbers, communicate wit.h him. Now if it be to be removed at the time of communion, 'tis abfurd to fuppofe it Prynne, P· to be fixed to the wall, and encompafl'ed with rails. Befides, the rubr1ck ~67• 4SI, of the common-prayer-book, and the eighty-fecond canon of 1603. ap– point the communion-table to be placed in the body of the church, where the chancel is too fmall, or near the middle of the chancel, where 'tis large enough ; and thus they generally !load in all churches, chapels, and in Lambeth chapel itfelf till the archbilhop's time, which puts the matter out of queftion. And if it be remembered, that the faying of private m affes brought in this fituation of altars into the church of Rome, con– trary to all antiquity, the archbiihop's imitating them in this particular muft certainly be a popi!h innovation. 'Io their furThe furniture upon the altar which the archbifhop pleads for, is exaCl:– nzture. ly copied from the roman pontifical and the popilh council of .Aix, and is condemned by· our homilies and queen Elizabeth's injuntlions, which cenfure, condemn, and abolilh as fuperfiitious, ethnical. and popilh, all candleflicks, trendals, rc;>l!s of wax, and fetting up of tapers, a~ tending '" Choir or chorus has its denomination from the multitude fl:anding round about the al– tar [in modum corm~] in the form of a ring or circle, In the ancient liturgies they pray– ed for all thofe that flood round about the altar. The priefl:s and deacons ftood round about the altar when they officiated, and fo did the bilhops when they confecra– ted it.
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