the people are united to Christ, and the multitude of the faithful are coupled and conjoined to Him on whom they believe.” [486:1] The bread was not put into the mouth of the communicant by the administrator, but was handed to him by a deacon; and it is said that, the better to shew forth the unity of the Church, all partook of one loaf made of a size sufficient to supply the whole congregation. [486:2] The wine was administered separately, and was drunk out of a cup or chalice.  As early as the third century an idea began to be entertained that the Eucharist was necessary to salvation, and it was, in consequence, given to infants. [486:3] None were now suffered to be present at its celebration but those who were communicants; [486:4] for even the catechumens, or candidates for baptism, were obliged to withdraw before the elements were consecrated.

The Passover was kept only once a year, but the Eucharist, which was the corresponding ordinance of the Christian dispensation, was observed much more frequently.  Justin intimates that it was administered every Lord’s day, and other fathers of this period bear similar testimony.  Cyprian speaks even of its daily celebration. [486:5] The New Testament has promulgated no precise law upon the subject, and it is probable that only the more zealous disciples communicated weekly.  On the Paschal week it was observed with peculiar solemnity, and by the greatest concourse of worshippers.

The term sacrament was now applied to both Baptism and the Lord’s Supper; but it was not confined to these two symbolic ordinances. [487:1] The word transubstantiation was not introduced until upwards of a thousand years after the death of our Saviour; [487:2] and the doctrine which it indicates was not known to any of the fathers of the first three centuries.  They all concur in describing the elements, after consecration, as bread and wine; they all represent them as passing through the usual process of digestion; and they all speak of them as symbols of the body and blood of Christ.  In this strain Justin Martyr discourses of “that bread which our Christ has commanded us to offer in remembrance of His being made flesh, ... and of that cup which He commanded those that celebrate the Eucharist to offer in remembrance of His blood.” [487:3] According to Clement of Alexandria the Scripture designates wine “a mystic symbol of the holy blood.” [487:4] Origen, as if anticipating the darkness which was to overspread the Church, expresses himself very much in the style of a zealous Protestant.  He denounces as “simpletons” [487:5] those who attributed a supernatural power to the Eucharistic elements, and repeatedly affirms that the words used at the institution of the Lord’s Supper are to be interpreted spiritually.  “The meat,” says he, “which is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, as it is material, goes into the stomach, ... but, by reason of prayer made over it, it is