Note 223 — Chapter XVI

Here we have an illustration of 1 Cor. xiv. 16: "Else if thou bless with the Spirit, how shall he that filleth the place of the unlearned say the Amen at the giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?" See also ch. lxv. of Justin's same Apology for another reference to the Amen, and cf. Apost. Constitutions, viii. 10; Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat., ch. v.; Euseb., H. E., vi. 43 and vii. 9; Ambros. De Sacrament., iv. 4; Jerom., Epist., 62; Chrysost., Hom., xxxv. on 1st Cor.; Bingham's Antiqq., XV. iii. 26; and the article on Amen in the first volume of Smith's Dict. Christ. Antiqq. The preceding chapters of Justin's Apology, lxv. and lxvi., are full of information. They expressly state that in the Primitive Church no unbaptized person was allowed to communicate, an elementary point of Christian practice about which some persons and some Christian societies seem at present very uncertain. Hooker's words, Eccles. Pol., Book V. ch. lxvii., are very clear on this topic.