uthorised designations. Thus, before the close of the
second century, it was called an _offering_, and a _sacrifice_, [490:1]
and the table at which it was administered was styled the _altar_.
[490:2] Though these terms were now used rhetorically, in after-ages
they were literally interpreted; and in this way the most astounding
errors gradually gained currency. Meanwhile other topics led to keen
discussion; but there was a growing disposition to shroud the Eucharist
in mystery; and hence, for many centuries, the question as to the manner
of Christ's presence in the ordinance awakened no controversy.

CHAPTER IV.

CONFESSION AND PENANCE.

When the Evangelist Matthew is describing the ministry of John the
Baptist, he states that there "went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea,
and all the region round about Jordan; and were baptized of him in
Jordan, _confessing their sins._" [491:1] The ministry of Paul at
Ephesus produced similar results; for it is said that "fear fell" on all
the Jews and Greeks dwelling in that great capital, "and many that
believed came, and _confessed_, and shewed their deeds," [491:2]

The confession here mentioned obviously flowed spontaneously from deep
religious convictions. It was not a private admission of guilt made to
an ecclesiastical functionary; but a public acknowledgment of acts which
weighed heavily on the consciences of individuals, and which they felt
constrained to recapitulate and to condemn. Men awakened to a sense of
their sins deemed it due to themselves and to society, to state how
sincerely they deplored their past career; and, no doubt, their words
often produced a profound impression on the multitudes to whom they were
addressed. These confessions of sin were connected with a confession of
faith in Christ, and were generally associated with the ordinance of
baptism. They were not required from all, but were only tendered in
cases where there had been notorious and flagrant criminality; and they
must have been of a very partial character, only embracing such
transgressions as the party had some urgent reason for specializing.

In the time of the apostles those who embraced the gospel were
immediately baptized. Thus, the three thousand persons who were
converted on the day of Pentecost, were forthwith received into the
bosom of the Church; and the Philippian jailor, "the same hour of the
night" [493:1] when he hearkened to "the word of the Lord," "was
baptized,