man, the service of the brethren
was recognized as an imperative Christian duty. The fulfilling of that
duty was one of the most beautiful features of the life of the early
Church, and it did perhaps more than anything else to make the Christian
circle attractive.

3. _Worship._--The primitive belief in the immediate presence of the
Spirit affected the religious services of the Church. They were regarded
in early days as occasions for the free exercise of spiritual gifts. As
a consequence the completest liberty was accorded to all Christians to
take such part as they chose, it being assumed that they did so only
under the Spirit's prompting. But the result of this freedom was
confusion and discord, as is indicated by Paul's First Epistle to the
Corinthians (see chapters xi., xiv.). This led to the erection of
safeguards, which should prevent the continuance of the unseemly
conditions (on Paul's action in the matter, see McGiffert's _Apostolic
Age_, p. 523). Particular Christians were designated to take charge of
the services, and orders of worship were framed out of which grew
ultimately elaborate liturgies (see LITURGY). The Lord's Supper first
took on a more stereotyped character, and prayers to be used in
connexion with it are found already in the _Didach[=e]_ (chapters ix.
and x.). The development cannot here be traced in detail. It may simply
be said that the general tendency was on the one hand toward the
elaboration and growing magnificence of the services, especially after
the Church had become a state institution and had taken the place of the
older pagan cults, and on the other hand toward the increasing solemnity
and mystery of certain parts, particularly the eucharist, the sacred
character of which was such as to make it sacrilegious to admit to it
the unholy, that is, outsiders or Christians under discipline (cf.
_Didach[=e]_, ix.). It was, in fact, from the Lord's table that
offending disciples were first excluded. Out of this grew up in the 3rd
or 4th century what is known as the _arcani disciplina_, or secret
discipline of the Church, involving the concealment from the uninitiated
and unholy of the more sacred parts of the Christian cult, such as
baptism and the eucharist, with their various accompaniments, including
the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The same interest led to the division
of the services into two general parts, which became known ultimately as
the _missa catechumenorum_ and the _missa fid