3. And note, that many kinds of altars are found in Scripture: as a higher, a lower, an inner, an outer; of which each hath both a plain and a symbolical signification. The higher altar is God the Trinity: of which it is written, 'Thou shalt not go up by steps to my altar.' [Footnote 200] And it also signifieth the Church Triumphant: of which it is said, 'Then shall they offer bullocks upon mine altar.' [Footnote 201] But the lower altar is the Church Militant, of which it is said, 'If thou wilt make an altar of stone, thou shalt not make it of hewn stone.' [Footnote 202] Also it is the table of the temple. Of which he saith, 'Appoint a solemn day for your assembly even unto the horns of the altar.' [Footnote 203] And in the Third of Kings, it is said that Solomon made a golden altar. [Footnote 204 ] But the interior altar is a clean heart, as shall be said below. It is also a type of faith in the incarnation, of which in Exodus, 'An altar of earth ye shall make Me.' [Footnote 205] And an interior altar is the altar of the cross. This is the altar on which they offered the evening sacrifice. Whence in the Canon of the Mass it is said, _Jube hoc in sublime Altare Tuum perferri_. [Footnote 206] Moreover the external altar representeth the sacraments of the Church: of which it is said, 'Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.' [Footnote 207] Again, the altar is our mortification in our heart, in which carnal motions are consumed by the fervour of the Holy Spirit. [Footnote 200: Exodus XX, 26.] [Footnote 201: Psalm li (_Miserere mei_), 19.] [Footnote 202: Exodus XX, 25.] [Footnote 203: Psalm cxviii (_Confitemini_), 27.] [Footnote 204: III Kings vi. 22.] [Footnote 205: Exodus xx 26.] [Footnote 206: This prayer, which immediately precedes the Commemoration of the Dead, runs thus: Supplices Te rogamus, omnipotens Deus, jube hoc perferri per manus Sancti Angeli Tui, in conspectu Divinae Majestatis Tuae: ut quotquot ex hac Altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii Tui Corpus et Sanguinem sumpserimus, omni benedictione caelesti et gratia repleamur. Per.] [Footnote 207: Psalm lxxxiv (_Quam dilecta_), 4.] {35} 4. Secondly, it also signifieth the Spiritual Church: and its four horns teach how she hath been extended into the four quarters of the world. Thirdly, it signifieth Christ, without whom no gift is offered acceptable to the Father. Whence also the Church addresseth her prayers to the Father through Christ alone. Fourthly, it signifieth the body of Christ, as shall be explained in the fifth book. Fifthly, it signifieth the table at which Christ did feast with His disciples.