ip, of which the materials were
bread and wine.

16. There were oblations also of fruits of the earth, in connection with
the sacrifice.

17. There were gold and silver vessels in the rite, and these were
consecrated.

18. There were sacred lamps, fed with olive oil, and incense during the
holy rite.

19. Baptism was administered in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

20. Excommunication was inflicted on Christians who disgraced their
profession.

21. No one might pray, even in private, with excommunicated persons,
except at the cost of being excommunicated himself.

22. No one might pray with heretics, or enter their churches, or
acknowledge their baptism, or priesthood.

9.

These rules furnish us with large portions, and the more important, of
the outline of the religion of their times; and are not only definitive
in themselves, but give us the means of completing those parts of it
which are not found in them. Considered, then, as a living body, the
primitive Christian community was distinguished by its high sacerdotal,
ceremonial, mystical character. Which among modern religious bodies was
it like? Was it like the Wesleyans? was it like the Society of Friends?
was it like the Scotch Kirk? was it like any Protestant denomination at
all? Fancy any model Protestant of this day in a state of things so
different from his own! With his religious societies for the Church,
with his committees, boards, and platforms instead of Bishops, his
_Record_ and _Patriot_ newspapers instead of Councils, his concerts for
prayer instead of anathemas on heresy and schism, his spoutings at
public meetings for exorcisms, his fourths of October for festivals of
the Martyrs, his glorious memories for commemorations of the dead, his
niggard vestry allowances for gold and silver vessels, his gas and
stoves for wax and oil, his denunciations of self-righteousness for
fasting and celibacy, and his exercise of private judgment for
submission to authority--would he have a chance of finding himself at
home in a Christianity such as this? is it his own Christianity?

* * * * *

I end, then, as I began:--If Protestantism is another name for
Christianity, then the Martyrs and Bishops of the early Church, the men
who taught the nations, the men who converted the Roman Empire, had
themselves to be taught, themselves to be converted. Shall we side with
the first age of Christianity, or with the last?