ALTAR (Lat. altare, from altua, high), the place whereon offerings were laid both by Jews and heathens. The first on record is that which Noah built on leaving the ark. The Israelites, after the giving of the Law, were commanded to make one. We find, from the Old Testament (1 Kings iii. 3 ; 1 Kings xi. 7 ; and 2 Kings xxiii. 15), that altars were often erected on high places—sometimes, also, on the roofs of houses. Both in the Jewish tabernacle and temple there were two altars, one for sacrifices, and another for incense. For a minute description of these, see Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. The Jewish and oriental altars were generally either square, oblong, or approximating to such ; those of Greece and Rome, on the other hand, were often round. Sacrifices were offered to the infernal gods, not on altars, but in cavities dug in the ground.
The word has been transferred into the Christian system. For upwards of five centuries, altars in the Christian churches were, for the most part, made of wood ; but in 509 A.D., it was decreed by a council held at Epone, in France, that none should be consecrated with chrism except those built of stone. In the first ages of Christianity, there was only one A. in a church ; but, from a very early time, the Latins have used more than one.. In the 12th c., the adorning of churches with images and numerous altars was carried to a great extent, and they were embellished with gold, silver, and precious stones. The Greek, church use but one A. Altars were frequently placed at the w. end of the ancient churches, instead of the e.. but in England almost uniformly in the e. The only perfect A. of the old times in England is the high A. of Arundel church, Sussex. The slab is 12 ft. 6 in. long, by 4 ft. wide, and 2i in. thick. The support is of solid stone, quite plain, and plastered over. For 300 years after the time of Christ, the word A. was constantly used to describe the table of the Lord ; subse quently, "table" and "altar" were used indifferently. In the first prayer-book of king Edward, 1549, the word A. was used in the rubric, and the Lord's supper was still called the Mass; but in 1550. an order was issued for the setting up of tables instead of altars, and in the second prayer-book of 1552, the word altar was everywhere replaced by table. The table was further ordered to be of wood, and movable. In Mary's reign the altars were re-erected; but in Queen Elizabeth's, some were riotously pulled down, and injunc tions were then issued directing that this should not be done, except under the oversight of the curate and at least one churchwarden. It was charged against archbishop Laud
that he had converted communion-tables into altars. What lie really did was to remove the tables out of the body of the church, and place them "altarwise," i.e., n. and s., at the upper end of the chancels, where the altars formerly stood; and a dog having on one occasion run away with a piece of the consecrated bread, he directed that rails should be erected to precut such desecrations in future. The old stone altars used frequently to be made in the shape of tombs, and they inclosed relics; this was from the early Christians having often celebnited the eucharist at the tombs of the martyrs, or, as others say, they were thus made with the design of representing, Christ's humanity as having been real, and vouched for by the fact of his body lying tu the tomb. The Credence Table and Piscina are adjuncts of an A. By the judgment in the Arches court, 1845, in the case of Faulkner n. Litchfield, it was decided that altars may not be erected in churches. This case arose out of the erection, by the Cambridge Camden society, of a stone A. in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in that town.
The old English divines, and, indeed, all Protestant ecclesiastical writers of any importance, are unanimous in the opinion that among Christians the word cannot mean what the Jews and heathens expressed by it. The later fathers used various phrases to denote the solemnity which should attach to the communion-table, such as "the mystical and tremendous .,table," "the ,inystieal. table," "the holy table," etc. And they termed it an A., because, first, time 'holy eucharist was regarded as a kind of coin.
memorative sacrifice, or, more properly, a consecrated memorial before God of the great sacrifice on Calvary; and, second, the prayers of the communicants were held to be in themselves sacrifices or oblations—sacrifices of thanksgiving, as it were. This is the view of those who hold high church opinions, but does not exclude the other view. Again, they termed it a table when the eucharist was considered exclusively in the light of a sacrament, to be partaken of by believers as spiritual food. In the former case, the sacrifice was commemorated; in the latter, it was applied: in the former, it expressed more directly the gratitude; in the latter, more directly the faith of the Christian.