THE OLD - Old Wirral.com

THE OLD CHURCHES OF WIRRAL
tions of good Christian people living
peaceably in their habitations, so the stone
altar called to mind hurried, secret, perilous
communions of Christians of Rome
down in the noisome gloom of the catacombs,
lit only by flickering lamp or torch,
before the altar-tomb of him whose fate
might at any time be theirs." Thus it
was that the author of the great " Histoire
Ecclesiastique " said that the Christian
altar was both a table and a tomb.
From about the fourth century to the
period of the Reformation stone altars
definitely replaced the first wooden tables,
but in the reign of Edward VI the latter
were ordered to be restored, and in 1550
the council ordered Ridley, Bishop of
London, and other bishops " to cause to
be taken down all the altars in every
church and chapel, and instead of them a
table to be set up in some convenient part
of the chancel, within every such church or
chapel." But the order was certainly not
carried out everywhere, for in the Injunc-
tions issued by Queen Elizabeth in 1559 it
is definitely stated that " in some other
places the altars be not yet removed."
Before then, however, a great number of
altars had already perished ; for instance,
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