Of the mixture of wine with water.-The ancient churches universally mixed water with the sacramental wine. This mixture was called xpaua, from xɛpúvvvui, misceo. By the Latin authors it was styled mixtum, temperatum. Some speak of this mixing of wine with water as an express precept of Christ.2 Others rely upon precedent and early usage for authority. But whatever may have been the origin of this custom, it was abundantly authorized by the canons of the church, and early became an established usage.

The Armenians used wine alone; others used only water; but both were condemned as heretics.

Protestants, at the Reformation, abandoned this ancient rite of the church, not as being unlawful or injurious, but because it was maintained by the Catholics merely on the ground of ecclesiastical authority.

The proportion of water mixed with the wine varied at different times. Sometimes it was one-fourth; at others, one-third. The Western church mixed cold water only. The Greek church first mixed cold water, and afterward added warm water, just before the distribution. This was said to be emblematical at once of the fire of the Holy Spirit, and of the water which flowed from our Saviour's side.5

Various other idle questions relating to the sacred elements at times agitated the church; and various superstitious ceremonies were observed by different branches of the church, which it were superfluous to mention in detail. With some it was a question, of what form and of what material the bread should be made-whether of the flour of wheat or barley, or of that of some other grain. Others mingled salt and oil with the bread. Some substituted water for wine. Others used wine mingled with water, at one time cold, at another warm, and again mixed with vinegar. Indeed, this sacred ordinance of the Lord's supper, in itself so simple and so impressive, has been dishonoured, at times, by casuistical discussions too ridiculous to be gravely related; and desecrated by rites too horrible to be mentioned.

§ 10. OF THE CONSECRATION OF THE ELEMENTS.

THE Consecration of the elements began at an early period to be performed with great formality, and with a set form of words and prayer, which were the subject of frequent discussion in different churches. It would be inconsistent with the design of this work to

enumerate the various controversies that have prevailed on this subject. In general, the church has agreed that the elements should be set apart to a sacramental use by prayer. The words given in the original institution were uniformly included in the consecrating prayer. Some contended that a personal invocation of the Holy Spirit was essential to a due consecration of the elements. But all agreed in supplicating the graces of the Spirit to sanctify these gifts to them, and to make them partakers of the body and blood of Christ, i. e. of the benefits of his death.

Elevation of the host.-As early, perhaps, as the third or fourth century, it became customary in the Eastern church to exhibit the consecrated elements to the people, to excite their veneration for the sacred mysteries of the sacrament. In the Middle Ages the host became the subject of adoration, under the notion that the elements, by transubstantiation, became the body and blood of Christ. This theological dogma was introduced into Gaul in the twelfth century, and into Germany in the thirteenth.

§ 11. OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS.

BOTH the bread and the wine were universally administered to the clergy and laity alike until about the twelfth century, when the cup began, in the Western church, gradually to be withdrawn from the laity, on account of the disorders to which the use of it had given rise.* The Greek retains substantially the ancient custom. Protestants universally concur in administering both elements.

* Certum est, omnes passim clericos et laicos viros et mulieres, sub utraque specie sacra mysteria antiquitus sumsisse, cum solemni eorum celebrationi aderant et offerebant et de oblatis participabant. Extra sacrificium vero et extra ecclesiam semper et ubique communio sub una specie in usu fuit. Primæ parti assertionis consentiunt omnes, tam catholici quam sectarii; nec eam negare potest, qui vel levissima rerum ecclesiasticarum notitia imbutus sit. Semper enim et ubique ab ecclesiæ primordiis usque ad sæculum xii. sub specie panis et vini communicarunt fideles; cœpitque paulatim ejus sæculi initio usus calicis obsolescere, plerisque episcopis eum populo intercidentibus ob periculum irreverentiæ et effusionis, quod inevitabile erat aucta fidelium multitudine, in qua deesse non poterant minus cauti et attenti et parum religiosi. . . Paulatim introducta est communio sub sola specie panis, posteaquam intolerandi abusus religiosos antistites ad abrogandum communem calicis usum induxerunt. Moribus enim immutatis leges quoque mutandæ sunt, quæ aliquando utiles atque optimæ fuerunt. Hæc autem mutatio facta est primum a diversis episcopis in suis ecclesiis, deinde a Synodo Constantiensi canonica sanctione pro omnibus stabilita.-BONA, Rer. Liturg. lib. ii. c. xviii. 1. Ab ecclesiæ exordio ad sæculum usque xii. eucharistiam etiam laicis sub utraque specie in publico solemnique eucharistiæ minis

The strictest order was observed under the hierarchy in distributing the elements to the different ranks of people. The clergy first received them, and the others in a regular succession.* This rule is disregarded by Protestants, with the exception of the English Episcopal church.

The communicants received the elements at the altar. The Council of Laodicea,' in the fourth century, c. 19, however, admitted only the clergy to the altar. The laity, and communicants of the other sex, from this time, usually received the elements from without the chancel.

It is observable that the primitive Christians used no established form in presenting the elements. This is the more remarkable, inasmuch as they were so careful in regard to their baptismal formulary; and is to be accounted for only from the fact that the form of the original institution was introduced into the sacramental prayer.

The earliest form of which we have any record was also the most simple and concise. In presenting the elements respectively, the presiding elder said: "The body of Christ; the blood of Christ; the cup of life." To which the communicant replied, "Amen."2 This response was, in time, omitted by the laity, and only repeated by the clergy; but it is not known at what time this change took place.

Under Gregory the Great, and subsequently, the forms following

terio fuisse ministratam, (etsi non semper et necessario,) nullus est inter catholilicos qui ignorat, si vel levissima rerum ecclesiasticarum notitia sit imbutus. Verum crescente indies fidelium numero, cum sanguis non raro a populo minus cauto et parum religioso fuerit effusus, primum introducta fuit consuetudo, ut ope tubuli vel fistulæ cujusdam sumeretur, quæ fundo calicis, teste Lindano, quandoque fuit ferruminata, ne ob incultioris populi rusticitatem tam facile effundi posset. Ast cum et hæc praxis sua haberet incommoda, cœperunt sacerdotes populo panem eucharisticam pretioso sanguine intinctum distribuere: qui mos sæculo xi. et xii. multis ecclesiis fuit familiaris. Verum cum illum reprobarint ecclesiæ aliæ, nec inconvenientiis satis iretur obviam, calicis usus sæc. xiii. semper semperque minui, et tandem sæc. xiv. fere generaliter obsolescere cœpit, donec sæc. xv. post exortam Hussitarum hæresin calix publico ecclesiæ decreto laicis omnibus fuerit sublatus.-KRAZER, de Liturg. p. 567.

* Ordo communionis hic erat, ut primo quidem celebrans seipsum communicaret, deinde episcopos, si qui aderant, vel presbyteros simul cum eo synaxin agentes: tum diaconos, subdiaconos et clericos, monachos, diaconissas et sacras virgines; novissime populum adjuvantibus presbyteris, primum viros, postea mulieres. Idem in calicis distributione servabatur, nisi quod presbyteri per se illum sumebant, diaconi a presbyteris, reliqui a diaconis, ut ex ordine Romano et ex Græcorum Euchologio constat.-BONA, Rer. Liturg. lib. ii. c. xvii. p. 858.

were in use: "The body of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve you unto eternal life." "The body and the blood of the Lamb of God, which is given to you for the remission of sins." "May the body and the blood of the Lamb of God be to you the salvation of soul and body." "May the body and the blood of the Lamb of God avail you to the remission of sins, and to life eternal." 3

When the bread was dipped in the wine, the form of distribution ran thus: "The body of the Lord Jesus Christ, dipped in his blood, preserve your soul unto everlasting life."

The Syriac and Greek churches had also each their own peculiar forms. But the Protestant churches have, with great propriety, restored the original and significant form: "Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you," etc.

Abuses connected with the celebration of this ordinance very early crept into the church. To correct these the bread and wine were at one time mingled together; at another, the wine was withheld, and the bread only administered; and again the elements were presented to the lips, instead of being delivered into the hands. The Protestant churches, generally, have returned to the ancient mode of presenting the bread and wine singly into the hands of each communicant.

The custom of the Greek church was to receive the sacrament standing, and such at first was probably the usage of the Western church.

What remained of the consecrated elements was sometimes distributed to the communicants who remained, sometimes given to children, at other times burned, and again reserved for private communion. The latter appears to have been the most common usage. After the doctrine of transubstantiation became a dogma of the church, the elements were gathered up with the most scrupulous care, as they still are in the Catholic church.

§ 12. OF THE ACCOMPANYING RITES.

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1. Psalmody in connection with the Sacrament.-The Apostolical Constitutions prescribe the 34th Psalm to be sung on this occasion; certain parts being supposed peculiarly appropriate.1 "I will bless the Lord at all times." "O taste and see that the Lord is good." Certain other psalms were also in use in different churches, such as the 133d, "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity," or the 45th, "My heart is in

diting a good matter," or the 145th, "I will extol thee, my God, O King." To these may be added the 42d, 43d, and 139th Psalms. These were sung during the distribution. Besides these, it was customary to begin and to conclude the whole ceremony with some solemn form of praise and thanksgiving, in which the whole body of the communicants joined. These were selected, for the most part, from the book of Psalms; but they varied in different times and places.

2. Of the kiss of charity.-This form of salutation, as a token of Christian affection, appears to have been an apostolic custom, Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26; 1 Pet. v. 14, and was perpetuated for many centuries. It was appropriately one of the rites of the sacramental service; but was observed on common occasions of public worship. It was omitted on Good Friday, in remembrance of the traitorous kiss of Judas Iscariot. In the Eastern church it preceded the consecration; in the Western, it followed that rite.

The different sexes, however, were not permitted to interchange this salutation one with another. Many other precautions were also used to prevent abuses which might be expected to arise out of this practice. It was for the enemies of Christianity the occasion of abundant reproach; but it was still continued through the eighth and ninth centuries, even to the thirteenth, when it appears to have ceased.

The following passage from the nineteenth canon of the Council of Laodicea is worthy of remark on other accounts, as well as for its prescription concerning this token of Christian charity and concord. "After the bishops' sermons, (ueva τas quiλias ToV ÈTUσxónov,) let a prayer for the catechumens be first pronounced. When the catechumens have left the church, let the prayer for the penitents (Tv Ev uɛτavoia) be said. After these have received imposition of hands (προσελθόντων ὑπὸ χεῖρα) and have retired, let the three prayers of the faithful (τῶν πιστῶν τὰς εὐχὰς τρεῖς) be offered; the first in silence, (dia σns,) but the second and third aloud, (διὰ προσφωνήσεως.) Then let the kiss be given, (τὴν eiprvy,) i. e. the kiss of peace. When the presbyters have given this kiss to the bishop, let the laity exchange it among themselves. Hereupon let the holy sacrifice be accomplished. But it is permitted to the clergy (Tois iepaτinois) alone to approach the altar (τοῖς ἱερατικοῖς) and communicate there." All this proceeds upon the system of secret instruction.