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elevated sentiments of piety which according to that venerable father should pervade our breasts at the table of the Lord:

"When thou sittest down to a common table, remember that spiritual table, and call to mind that supper of the Lord. Consider what words thy mouth hath spoken, words worthy of such a table, what things thy mouth hath touched or tasted, what meat it has fed upon. Dost thou think it no harm with that mouth to speak evil of and revile thy brother? How canst thou call him brother? If he is not thy brother, how couldst thou say 'Our Father?'-for that implies more persons than one. Consider with whom thou stoodest in the time of the holy mysteries; with cherubim and seraphim. But the cherubims use no reviling. Their mouth is filled with one office, glorifying and praising God. How then canst thou say with them, 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' who usest thy mouth to reviling? Tell me, if there was a royal vessel, always filled with royal dainties, and set apart only for this use, and one of the servants should use it for mean purposes, would he afterward dare to place it, filled with that which is vile and refuse, among the other vessels appointed for royal use? No, certainly. Yet this is the very case of railing and reviling. You say at the holy table, 'Our Father,' and then immediately add, 'which art in heaven.' This word raises you up, and gives wings to your soul, and shows that you have a Father in heaven. Therefore do nothing, speak nothing, of earthly things. He hath placed you in the order of spirits above, and appointed you a station in that choir. Why then do you draw yourself downward? You stand by the royal throne, and do you revile your brother? How are you not afraid lest the King should take it as an affront offered to himself? If a servant beats or reviles another in our presence, who are but his fellow-servants, though he does it justly, we rebuke him for it. And dare you stand before the Royal throne and revile your brother? See you not these holy vessels ? Are they not always appropriated to one peculiar use? Dares any one put them to any other? But you are more holy than these vessels, yea, much more holy. Why then do you pollute and defile yourself? You stand in heaven, and do you still use railing? You converse with angels, and do you yet revile? You are admitted to the Lord's holy kiss, and do you yet revile? God hath honoured and adorned your mouth so many ways, by angelical hymns, by food, not angelical, but super-angelical, by his own kisses, and by his own embraces, and do you after all these revile? Do not, I beseech you. Let that which is the cause of so many evils be far

from the soul of a Christian.' 13 "Be grateful to thy Benefactor by an excellent conversation; consider the greatness of the sacrifice, and let that engage thee to adorn every member of thy body. Consider what thou takest in thy hand, and never after endure to strike any man; do not disgrace that hand by the sin of fighting and quarrelling, which has been honoured with the reception of so great a gift. Consider what thou takest in thy hand, and keep thy hand free from all robbery and injustice. Think again, how thou not only receivest it in thy hand, but puttest it to thy mouth; and keep thy tongue pure from all filthy and contumelious speech, from blasphemy and perjury, and all words of the like nature. For it is a most pernicious thing that the tongue, which ministers in such tremendous mysteries, and is dyed with the purple of such precious blood, and made a golden sword, should be put to the vile practice of railing and reviling, and scurrilous and abusive language. Regard with veneration the honour wherewith God has honoured it; and do not debase it to such mean offices of sin. Consider again, that after thy hand and thy tongue, thy heart receives that tremendous mystery:-then never devise any fraud or deceit against thy neighbour, but keep thy mind pure from all malicious designs. And after the same manner guard thy eyes and thy ears.'

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3. Acts and deportment of the communicants at the Lord's table. 1. They were required to bring certain oblations or presents of bread and wine. The bread was enveloped in a white linen cloth called fano, and the wine was contained in a vessel called ama or amula. These offerings were brought to the altar after the deacon had said, "Let us pray," and while the assembly were engaged in singing a charity hymn appropriate to the occasion.15 The whole ceremony is minutely related in the note below. The custom was abolished in the twelfth century.

2. The communicants stood during the administration of the sacrament, with their faces toward the east.16 "Stantes oramus, quod est signum resurrectionis.

Unde etiam omnibus diebus Do

Honesto ac

*Egregium sane remotæ antiquitatis pignus ac vestigium ad hæc usque tempora servatum. Nimirum alit eadem ecclesia decem senes laicos, totidemque anus, quorum munus est, quibusdam solemnibus sacris interesse. antiquo vestium genere utuntur, et cum tempus offertorii poscit, ex iis duo mares fanonibus, hoc est, mappis candidis involuti accedunt ad gradus presbyterii, et dextra oblatas, sinistra amulas cum vino tenent, quæ sacerdos illuc ab altari una cum ministris descendens, et duo argentea vasa deaurata deferens suscipit. Idem subinde peragunt et fœminæ duæ anili ætate venerandæ.-Muratorü Antiq. Ital t. iv.

minicis id ad altare observatur, et hallelujah canitur, quod significat actionem nostram futuram non esse nisi laudare Deum." 17 3. The clergy, according to their ranks respectively, first received the elements; then the men, and lastly the women.18 They advanced to the table two by two. After the fourth century, none but the clergy were usually permitted to come within the railing and to approach the altar.19

4. The communicants received the elements sometimes standing, sometimes kneeling, but never sitting. They took the bread and cup in their hands, and repeated after the minister the sacramental formulary, concluding with a loud "Amen," to signify that they believed themselves to be partakers of the body and blood of Christ.20 The men received the elements with uncovered hands, previously washed; the women used a part of the dominical as a napkin with which to handle them. From the ninth century, the bread, instead of being delivered into the hands of the communicants, was placed in their mouths, to prevent its being sacrilegiously carried home. This custom is still observed in the Lutheran church. The scrupulous care used to prevent the least morsel from being wasted has been already mentioned. It is worthy of notice, that the Nestorians still exercise the same caution to prevent the waste of any particle of the sacred elements.

At the close of the communion the people all knelt down and received the blessing of the priest," after which he dismissed them, saying, "Depart in peace."

The practice of kneeling during the consecration and distribution of the elements was introduced in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and became general at a period still later.22

§ 9. OF THE ELEMENTS.

(a) Of the Bread.

1. Quality of the bread. The question whether leavened or unleavened bread should be used in the sacrament has been the subject of a spirited dispute between the Greek and Latin churches. The former contended for the use of leavened; the latter, of unleavened bread. Without attempting a protracted discussion of this question, suffice it to say, that no rule was given by our Lord on this subject. It is even uncertain whether he used the unleavened bread of the passover or common bread at the institution of the supper.

The early Christian writers make no mention of the use of unleavened bread in celebrating the Lord's supper. Justin Martyr calls it expressly common bread, κοινὸς ἄρτος.

The bread for the sacrament was supplied from the oblations which the communicants presented at the commencement of the solemnity, and was, probably, the same as that which was in com

mon use.

From the seventh century, the church at Rome used unleavened bread; and the church at Constantinople continued the use of common fermented bread, but the controversy between the two churches on the subject originated with Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople, in the year 1053, and was continued for some time with great bitterness. To this day the one continues the use of leavened, and the other of unleavened bread.

ance.

Protestants regard the quality of the bread as of no importFor the most part they discontinued, at the Reformation, the use of unleavened bread. But the Lutherans still continue it.* The elements continued to be supplied by these oblations (voluntary gifts) until the twelfth or thirteenth century. Such as was not needed for sacramental uses was given to the poor. The names

* Panis sit fermentatus, an azymus; vinum, rubrum an album, nihil refert. Fermentatum et vulgarem panem fuisse ante tempus Alexandri Romani Episcopi, narrant historiæ: qui primus azymo pane delectatus est; qua id ratione, non video, nisi ut plebis oculos novo spectaculo in admirationem traheret magis, quam ut animos proba religione institueret. Omnes objuro, qui vel levi aliquo pietatis studio tanguntur, annon evidenter perspiciant, et quanto præclarius Dei gloria hic resplendeat, et quanto affluentior spiritualis consolationis suavitas ad fideles transeat, quam in istis frigidis et histrionicis nugis, quæ nullum alium usum afferunt, nisi ut stupentis populi sensum fallunt.-CALVIN. Inst. Chr. Rel. lib. iv. c. xvii. 43. Panis azymus ne sit an fermentatus, non magnopere putamus laborandum.-BEZA, Ep. 12, ad Anglic. Eccl. Patres. Odiosa excitata est contentio super materia cœnæ dominicæ, contendentibus his, pane azymo, aliis vero fermentato esse utendum. Atqui apud veteres quondam de his nullæ movebantur rixæ. Nam ecclesiæ pro libertate sua utebantur utroque. Videtur quidem Dominus in prima illa cœna usus esse pane azymo, in mensa ex veteri more celebrandi Paschatis relicto, unde non paucæ ecclesiæ infermentato pane usæ sunt, quæ tamen fermentato pane utentes, non damnabant hæreseos.-BULLINGER. ap. Gerhard. Loc. Theol. x. Fermentati æque ac azymi panis in eucharistia liber usus est, dum modo ne alteruter ceu necessarius et nullo casu mutabilis præscribatur. Uterque analogiam quandam fundit: ille nutritionis plenioris; hic sinceritatis et sanctitatis, ad quam eucharistia obligat, majoris. Nostræ ecclesiæ usum azymi a Zuinglio, externorum ejusmodi plane incurioso et interiorum atque spiritualium tenacissimo, retentum, ceu fractioni et distributioni opportuniorem, ut mutarent, hactenus induci non potuerunt, novandi periculum metuentes.HEIDEGGER. Corp. Theol. Christ. Loc. xxv.

78.

of the donors were publicly rehearsed, and prayers for them invited. These offerings were in time perverted to enrich the clergy; one moiety being distributed to the subordinate orders, and the other to the bishop, who also had the disposal of such as was given in the parish churches.*

2. Form of the bread.-Until we pass the period which appropriately belongs to the period contemplated in this work, the bread of the eucharist was selected from the offerings of the communicants, without regard to any peculiar form. But Catholic superstition has raised many idle questions respecting the form and consistency of the bread, the mingling of oil, of salt, and of cheese, the image to be imprinted upon it, the inscription, &c., which it were foreign to our purpose to relate.

The eucharistic bread in the church of Rome is styled the host, hostia. It consists of cakes, of meal and water, made small, circular, and thin, like wafers, by which name it is frequently called. These wafers have been known by various names, as panes eucharistici, sacramentales, orbiculares, tesselati, reticulati, placenta orbiculares, nebula, and spuma panis, crustula farracea, coronæ, panes numularii, denaria sacramentorum, etc. By the enemies of religion it has also been stigmatized with various opprobrious epithets.

The host seems to have been used in the form above mentioned since the rise of the controversy with the Greek church in 1053. The use of these thin cakes is discarded by most of the Reformed churches, but retained by the Lutherans.

(b) of the Wine.

1. Colour of the wine.-The common wine of Palestine is of a red or dark colour. Such was the wine which our Saviour used at the sacrament, as it would seem both from the nature of the case and from the declaration this is my blood, as well as from the scriptural expression, the blood of the grape, etc. The colour of the wine was not considered as essential, but the red wines were generally preferred to the white. In the Greek church and some Protestant churches on the continent white wine is used, but this is not regarded as important.

*De his quæ in parochianis ecclesiis offeruntur.-Conc. Aurel. c. xiv.; De Oblationibus, c. xv.

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