churches did not recognize the custom, though some of their members clung to it. In 1718, for instance, a Lutheran church of Dresden formally disciplined twelve members who had allowed the humble-spirited Duke Maurice William of Saxony to prove his humility by washing their feet.

In the Anglican Church the more elaborate Catholic form was at first celebrated. On Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday (so called, it is said, from Mandatum Novum) the ceremony was observed in great style at Whitehall, where the Bishop of London washed the feet of a number of poor people equal to the number of years of the sovereign's reign. Later this was discontinued, and with it disappeared from the Protestant churches the elaborate celebration of feet washing as a religious

custom.

On the other hand, the primitive form of the act survives to the present day, mainly among churches composed of plain people. After the Protestant Revolution, though the Lutherans and Calvinists repudiated the ceremony, the radical sects of Protestants retained or revived it. The most notable of these were the Anabaptists, the Moravians and the Mennonites. The Anabaptists of Germany of the sixteenth century considered it a sacrament instituted and commended by Christ, and the scattered remnants of these people clung to it wherever they went. The Moravians, of whom Count Zinzendorf was the best known, long considered feet washing as a sacrament and practised it from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, but have now discontinued it. By them it was called the "lesser baptism," and was performed not only by the officials for the members but by the latter for one another. During the ceremony they sang a hymn relating to the circumstances of the Last Supper.

The Mennonites, or followers of Simon Menno, another German sect dating from the sixteenth century, have kept up the custom. The Flemingian branch of this sect, stricter than the others, has more regularly practised it. In Germany the Mennonites held it as not only a religious rite but also an act of hospitality - the Oriental idea. To wash the feet of strangers who came within their doors was considered a duty divinely commanded.

tants.

AMONG AMERICAN PROTESTANTS

I. The "Hardshells."— In America the ceremonial feet washing is found among several organizations of primitive ProtesOf these there are two distinct divisions, those composed mainly of members of foreign descent, and those whose membership is of English-American origin. The feet washing organizations of the latter are found mainly in the backwoods and mountain districts of the South and Southwest. They include such sects as the "Original Free Will Baptists," the "Baptist Church of Christ," the "United Baptists," the "Primitive Baptists" or "Hardshells," the "Old School Baptists," the "Anti-Mission Baptists," the "Old Two-Seed-in-theSpirit Predestinarian Baptists," and the "Seventh Day Adventists." The last named body is in other respects unlike the Baptist organizations; it is found in the Middle States and West; in this church the Adventists wash one another's feet at the time of the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

The closely related bodies of Baptists known as "Old School," "United Baptists," "Anti-Mission," "Primitive," or "Hardshell," and "Baptist Church of Christ" all found in the remote South, and by outsiders called "Hardshell," believe that "feet washing should be practised by all believers," and they consider it a gospel ordinance that must be continued until the second coming of Christ. At a conference held at Wilton, Maine, in 1831, the "Free Will Baptists," in order to end a controversy in the church, decided that "washing the saints' feet" should be no longer official, but voluntary with each congregation. Some congregations in the Carolinas then drew apart and called themselves the "Original Free Will Baptists." At their quarterly meetings they "wash the saints' feet." From West Virginia to Texas are spread the hill and mountain churches of the "Old Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Predestinarian Baptists," a distinctly Manichean sect, who have feet washing along with the celebration of the Lord's Supper. These bodies of Christians are growing smaller each year. As the backwoods disappears in the South the small primitive denominations gradually give way to or are absorbed into the Regular Baptists and other churches,

and the custom of feet washing then lapses. At the present time, feet washing Baptists frequently have to go ten to twentyfive miles to church. They build few new church buildings and the old ones are usually in districts from which the "Hardshells," as they are called, have disappeared.

To the reverent mind there is nothing absurd about the Southern "piney woods" feet washing. On communion days the brothers and sisters scrub their feet until they shine and put on their best home knit white stockings; at church they take seats on the front benches and bare the feet. Two dignified old brothers, each with a towel over his shoulder and a "noggin" or "foot tub" of water, proceed to wash the feet of the men. Women do the same for one another, and the negro members, if there are any, do likewise for themselves.

The ceremony means much to these people; it is performed in a reverent and dignified manner, and is an impressive sight to some strangers, but to the ungodly small boy, say of a Methodist or Presbyterian family, there is something inexpressibly ludicrous about it. Sometimes the good old "Hardshell" preacher directs a scorching rebuke at these young "limbs of Satan" who show signs of irreverence. The "Hardshell" sects are greatly annoyed by the visitors who out of curiosity crowd to the church on feet washing days and gaze in at the doors or stand up on the back seats to see the ceremony. Under such circumstances it is not strange that the young "Hardshells" sometimes refuse to take part, and are often lost to the church of their fathers through fear of ridicule. The Southern "Hardshells" are fine, plain people, but soon there will be no more of them, for their number is rapidly decreasing.

In the central parishes of Louisiana are found negro churches that preserve the custom of feet washing. The members are descendants of French negro slaves, and speak an Acadian dialect. They call themselves Baptists, but celebrate the Feast Days and Saints' Days, and retain other Catholic customs. With them the ceremony of feet washing comes once a year, at the Watch Night services.

II. The German Sectarians.- The principal religious sects in America of foreign origin that practice ceremonial feet washing are the "Church of God," the Mennonites, the "River Brethren," the "Amish Brethren" and the Dunkards, or German Baptists. With them the act is classed as one of three perpetual ordinances of divine institution - baptism, feet washing and the Lord's Supper. All of these sects are of German origin. They are the spiritual - often lineal - descendants of those radical non-Catholics who refused to follow Martin Luther on account of his conservatism and because of his hostility to the lower classes during the Peasants' War in 1525. These sects are found in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and the Middle West.

The Mennonites in the United States "wash the saints' feet" twice a year after the Lord's Supper; the men and women wait on each other separately; after the feet washing, the right hand of Christian fellowship is given and with it the "kiss of peace" from brother to brother, and from sister to sister. The Mennonites and other Germans wash one foot only; the Southern "Hardshells" often wash both feet.

Of the "River Brethren," there are three branches: The "Yorker Brethren" or "Old Order;" the "Brethren in Christ;" and "United Zion's Children." In the last named branch one person performs the entire ceremony - washing and drying; in the others one washes the feet and another dries them. The "Dunkards" and "Amish" celebrate the feet washing at the time of the Lord's Supper. The "Dunkards" begin the service at "early candle lighting." The men are seated on one side of the meeting place, the women on the other. Large tubs of slightly warmed water are brought in; the men and women on the front seats bare the right foot; then on the men's side a brother washes the feet of those on the front row. The washer, after he washes a man's foot, offers him his right hand and gives him the "kiss of peace." After the washer follows a second brother with a towel to dry the feet. By him also is given the hand of fellowship and the "kiss of peace." On the women's side the same procedure takes place. Then those on the first row retire to the back seats and others come forward. During

the ceremony the minister or reader makes an appropriate talk on the lesson to be taught, or reads selections from the Bible on humility, charity, service, etc. After the pedilavium, as they call it, comes a supper (not communion) of soup served on long tables; all partake in commemoration of "the Lord's real supper." After this supper the right hand and kiss of peace are again given and then follows the communion.

The "Amish" ceremony is slightly different. It comes sometimes before and sometimes after the Lord's Supper. A sermon is first preached on the thirteenth chapter of John. Then the brothers and sisters seated with their backs to the communion table remove shoes and stockings. On the men's side two preachers put on aprons and each washes and dries the feet of the man nearest. Then, after the right hand of fellowship and the kiss of charity have been exchanged, the washers give aprons and water to those whose feet have been washed, and thus the ceremony proceeds. Likewise two women at a time wash the feet of the women. During the ceremony there is appropriate singing. After the pedilavium, they kneel in prayer, then stand, and beginning with the chief preacher, every other man, first, third, fifth, etc., turns to his neighbor on the left and gives him the hand of fellowship and kisses him. The women among themselves do likewise, and then each married man kisses his wife.

The pedilavium in the North and West is more elaborate than the feet washing of the South. In the North' also sightseers annoy the congregations and the young people, sensitive to ridicule, avoid the ceremonies, which are dying out, though more slowly than in the South.

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.

WALTER L. FLEMING.