 Ministers at four of the churches Washington often attended wrote that he regularly left services before communion.After the religious ceremony and Pulpit service Washington, along with the greater congregation, would exit the church, leaving wife Martha with the communicants to receive communion.In one definitive case a Pastor James Abercrombie of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, in Philadelphia took exception to the advent and, considering it his duty, said in one of his sermons that he was unhappy to see people in elevated stations not set an example by receiving communion.