Table of the Lord

Table Of The Lord a phrase taken from Scripture, used to designate the holy table, or altar, of the Christian Church (1Co 10:21). In the Old Test. the words table and altar appear to have been applied indifferently to the same thing (Eze 41:22). Among other terms which have been used to designate the Lord's table, it is obvious to mention the word "altar" as having been so employed; it is a term, however, which, though it may easily be borrowed in a figurative sense from the ancient Scriptures, is neither found in the New Test. in the sense now referred to, nor has it the sanction of the Church. In the first Prayer-book of king Edward VI, published in 1549, which may be considered as a connecting link between the Missal and our present Prayer book, the word "altar" occurs in the Communion Service at least three times: but in the service of 1552 (the second Prayer-book of Edward VI) it is in every instance struck out; and if another expression is used in place of it, that expression is The Lord's Table. This circumstance is the more worthy of remark, because wherever in the older of these books the phrase "God's Board" was adopted as descriptive of "the Lord's Table" it was allowed to remain. SEE ALTAR.