The Christian literature of the end of the 1st cent, carries on the same principles. The Teach- ing of the Twelve Apostles (iv. 8) says : ' Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in need, but shalt share all things with thy brother, and shalt not say that thej' are thine own : for if ye are sharers in that which is immortal, how much more in those things which are mortal.' The Epistle of Barnabas contains almost exactly the same phrases. We have thus in the NT and the sub- apostolic literature the clearest enunciation of the principle whose etfect and practical applications we have to study in the history of the Early Church and of Christian civilization. There can be no doubt that our Lord and the writers of the NT looked upon the maintenance of the poor as a primary obligation of the Christian life.
Literature. — Art. 'Almsgiving' in UDB; 'Alms' in EBi and Smith's Z)B2 ; 'Charity, Almsgiving (Christian)' in ERE; G. Uhlhorn, Christian Charity in the Ancient Church, Eng. tr.,' Edinburgh, 1S83; A. Harnack, Expansion of Christ ianitij^', London, 190S, i. 147; A. F. W. Ingram, Banners of the Christian Faith, London, 1899 ; W. C. E. Newbolt. Counsels of Faith and Practice, do. 1894; B. F. Westcott, The Incar- nation and Common Life, do. 1S93; J. L. Davies, Social Questione, do. 1886. A. J. CaRLYLE.
ALPHA AND OMEGA.— These are the first and last letters of the Gr. alphabet ; cf. Heb. 'Aleph to Tau'; Eng. 'A to Z.' The title is applied to God the Father in Rev P 21«, and to Christ in Rev 22i=» (cf. 2*). The ancient Heb. name for God, rr\n\ has been very variously derived, but its most probable meaning is the ' Eternal' One—' I am that I am*
ALTAR
ALTAR
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(Ex 3'^). This idea of Llie Deity, further emphasized in Is 41* 43'" 44'*, is expressed in the language of the Apocalypse by the Greek phrase 'A and f2,' which corresponds to a common Heb. expression 'Alcph to Tau,' of which the Talmud and other Rabbinic writings furnish many examples. 11. H. Charles adduces similar phrases in Latin (Martial, v. 26) and Greek (Theodoret, ME iv. 8) to express com- pleteness. To those who believe in a Jewish original for the NT Apocalypse, its presence there will cause no surprise, and its application to Christ will constitute an instance of the Christian re- modelling wiiich that book has undergone. More- over, Jewish writers (e.g. Kohler) have given another explanation of its use as a title for God, calling it the hellenized form of a well-known saying, ' The Seal of God is Emeth (ncN = ' truth'), a word containing first, middle, and last letters of the Heb. alpiiabet (cf. Gen. Bab. Ixxxi. ; Jerus. Sank. i. 18« ; Sank. 64a ; Yoma 69b). Josephus (c. Apion.) probably refers to this saying (cf. also Dn 10-' nc^ nnp?, ' the writing of truth'). Similar is the use of Justin (Address to Greeks, xxv.). Whatever may be the origin of the phrase, its chief significance for Christians lies in its constant application to Christ, of which this passage in the Apocalyjise supplies the first of countless instances. Charles and JSliiller agree that Patristic comment- ators invariably referred all these passages to the Son, and in so doing they plainly claimed the Divine privilege of eternity for the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and established the claim set forth in the later creeds that ' the Word of God w.as equal with God.'
Not only was this the universal opinion of the earliest commentators, as of the Christian author or editor of the Apocalypse ; it was an opinion deeply rooted in the convictions of the Christian congregations. We hear of no attempt to dispute it ; and, relying on this as an established fact, the Gnostic teachers sought to deduce by various means and numerical quibbles the essential identity of all the Persons of the Trinity (cf. Iren. adv. Hcer. I. xiv. 6, xv. 1). Among others, Tertullian (Monog. v.), Cyprian [Testimon. ii. 1, 6), Clem. Alex. (Strom, iv. 25, vi. 16), Ambrose(£'a;;j. inseptem Vis. i. 8), emphasized this view of the matter ; and, before tlie last persecution of Diocletian was over, many inscriptions had been put up on tombstones, walls of catacombs, etc., in which these two letters stood for the name of Christ. At a subsequent period the practice became universal all over the Christian world, and countless examples are still extant to prove the general popularity of this custom.
In most cases the letters are accompanied by other symbols and titles of the Master, e.g. ^k' ; in a few examples they stand alone as a reverent way of representing the presence of the Redeemer. Most numerous in the period from A.D. 300-500, they decline in number and import- ance during the early Middle Ages, and are rare, at least in the W^est, after the 7th and 8th centuries. It is significant to note that in none of those hundreds of examples do the letters (often rudely scrawled by poor peasants) refer to any one but Jesus Christ. It is hard to conceive of any fact more suited to emphasize the deep-rooted belief of the early Christians in the true Divinity of their Lord and Master, who had created the world, existed from the beginning, and was still alive and veady to succour His faithful followers.