of all Christian societies. The late Mr. ⟨Randal⟩ after having minutely investigated the records in the primitive ages of Christianity, on this ⟨subject⟩, thus concludes, “Consider then antiquity in ⟨what⟩ view you please, the elder or the later accounts;— consider it among enemies or friends;— view it ⟨in⟩ its truth or in its lies;— in its simplicity or in ⟨its⟩ superstitions;— consider all the accounts, which ⟨all⟩ sorts of men have given; take the evidence from ⟨as⟩ distant corners of the world, and opposite character in it as you please, from those who have no ⟨bias⟩ but to the truth, or from such whose opinions ⟨and⟩ interests would lead them to give this subject a ⟨colour⟩ if it could bear it— and all with one voice ⟨shall⟩ declare, that to come together on the first day ⟨of⟩ the week to break bread, was from the beginning and for many ages, the custom, the uninterrupted, unquestioned, undisputed practice of all Christian churches: as much so, as it was their practice to sanctify the Lord’s day, or to pray, praise, or preach the apostles’ doctrine on it:— that as this was the most distinguishing part of their worship, so was it what they and their worship was described by, and the action by which among themselves, the Lord’s day was known, what consequently they would least and last of all have omitted, while any degree of the purity of the gospel remained among them.”[1]
The late Mr. Brown of Haddington, is equally decisive on the subject. “That the Sacrament of ⟨The⟩ Lord’s Supper,” says he, “was generally administered every Lord’s day, for the space of three ⟨hundred⟩ years, is beyond dispute.”[2]
