The Elements to be used in the LoroVs Stepper, The word element, in this connection, is used in the same sense as the Latin word " elementum," and the Greek word orotxcia, for the component parts of anything; the simple materials or rudiments. Bread and wine are the elements employed in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, because they are the simple corporeal materials employed as the symbols of the body and blood of Christ.
As the Lord's Supper was originally instituted in connection with the Passover, there is no doubt that unleavened bread was used on that occasion. It is evident, however, from the apostolic history, that the Apostles used whatever kind of bread was at hand* There is no significancy either in the kind of bread or in the form of the loaf. It is enough that it is bread. This makes it the proper emblem of Him who declared Himself to be the true bread which came down from heaven.
Although it seems so obvious that it is a matter of indifference what kind of bread is used in the Lord's Supper, a serious con- troversy arose on this subject in the eleventh century between the Greek and Latin churches : the former condemning the use of unleavened bread as a remnant of Judaism, and the latter insisting not only on its propriety, but on its being the only kind allowable, because used by Christ himself when He instituted the sacrament. The two churches adhere to their ancient con- victions and practice to the present day. The Lutherans in this matter side, in their practice, with the Romanists. The Reformed regard it as a matter of indifference ; although they object to the " placentulas orbiculares," or round wafers, used by Roman- ists in this ordinance ; because flour and water or flour and some glutinous substance is not bread in the ordinary sense of the word. It is not used for nourishment. The use, therefore, is inconsistent with the analogy between the sign and the thing signified. The eucharist is a supper ; it represents our feeding upon Christ for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Besides, the use of the wafer was introduced with the rise of the doctrine of transubstantiation. The consecrated bread being regarded as the real body of Christ, it was natural that it should be made in a form which precluded the danger of any particle of it being profaned.1
i The question of the kind of bread used in the eucharist at different times and in dif- ferent churches is discussed with great minuteness of detail in the recent work, Notitia
616 PART in. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
Some of the Reformed theologians raise the question whether in places where bread and wine cannot be obtained, it is lawful to use in their stead other articles of nourishment, the most allied to them in nature ? This question they answer affirma- tively; while they insist that the command of Christ and the practice of the Apostles should be strictly adhered to where such adherence is possible.
By wine as prescribed to be used in this ordinance, is to be understood " the juice of the grape ; " and " the juice of the grape " in that state which was, and is, in common use, and in the state in which it was known as wine. The wine of the Bible was a manufactured article. It was not the juice of the grape as it exists in the fruit, but that juice submitted to such a process of fermentation as secured its preservation and gave it the qualities ascribed to it in Scripture. That otvos in the Bible, when unqualified by such terms as new, or sweet, means the fer- mented juice of the grape, is hardly an open question. It has never been questioned in the Church, if we except a few Chris- tians of the present day. And it may safely be said that there is not a scholar on the continent of Europe, who has the least doubt on the subject. Those in the early Church, whose zeal for temperance led them to exclude wine from the Lord's table, were consistent enough to substitute water. They were called Tatiani, from the name of their leader, or Encratitae, Hydro- parastatas, or Aquarii, from their principles. They not only abstained from the use of wine and denounced as " improbos atque impios " those who drank it, but they also repudiated animal food and marriage, regarding the devil as their author.1 They soon disappeared from history. The plain meaning of the Bible on this subject has controlled the mind of the Church, and it is to be hoped will continue to control it till the end of time.2 In most churches, the wine used in the Lord's Supper is mixed with water. The reasons assigned for this custom, are, (1.) That
Eucharistica, a Commentary. Explanatory t Doctrinal and Historical on the Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion, according to the Use of the Church of England. By W. E. Scudamore, M. A., Rector of Ditchingham and formerly Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge ; Rivingtons, London, Oxford and Cambridge, 1872, pp. 749-765.
1 Suicer, Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus, sub voce 2vW£is ; edit. Amsterdam, 1728, vol. ii. p. 1123.
2 This is not the place for the discussion of what, in this country, is called " The Wine Question." The reader will find it amply ventilated in the Princeton Review for April and October, 1841, in two articles from the pen of Rev. John Maclean, D. D., and more recently by the Rev. Lyman H. Atwater, D. D., in the same Review, October, 1871, and January, 1872.
§lf>.] THE LORD'S SUPPER. SACRAMENTAL ACTIONS. 617
the eucharist having been instituted at the table of the Paschal supper, and the wine used in the Passover being mixed with water, it is morally certain that the wine used by Christ when instituting this sacrament, was also thus mixed. Hence it was inferred that his disciples in all ages should follow his example. That the Paschal cup contained wine mixed with water rests on the authority of Jewish writers. " It was the general practice of the Jews to dilute their wine with water. 4 Their wine was very strong,' says an ancient Jewish writer,1 ' and not fit for drinking unless water was mixed with it.' " 2 It is certain, from the wri- tings of the fathers, that this custom prevailed extensively in the primitive Church. As the Greeks and Romans were in the habit of mixing water with their wine on all ordinary occasions, it is the more natural that the same usage should prevail in the Church. It is still retained, both by Romanists and by the Ori- ental Church. (2.) Besides this historical reason for the usage in question, it was urged that it adds to the appropriate significance of the ordinance. As water and blood flowed from the side of our Lord on the cross, it is proper, it is said, that water should be mixed with the wine in the service intended to be commemo- rative of his death. This being the case, the quantity of the water used was declared to be a matter of indifference. In the First Book of Edward VI. prepared for the Church of England, the minister was ordered to put into the cup " a little pure and clean water." This order was omitted from the rubric, and has never been restored. Merati, of the Church of Rome, says : kC A little water ought to be mixed by the priest with the wine on the altar, not .... for necessity of the sacrament or divine precept, .... but only of ecclesiastical precept obliging under mortal sin." 8
The Sacramental Actions,
The first of these is the introductory and consecrating prayer. The object of this prayer is threefold : —
1. To give thanks to God for the gift of his Son, whose death we are about to commemorate.
2. To prepare the hearts of the communicants for the solemn service on which they are attending. To this end the prayer must be appropriate. And to be appropriate, it should be well considered. This is a matter of great importance. It often
1 Gloss in Lightfoot, Horat HeSraicas in St. Matthew xxvi. 27, n. v. Opp. torn. ii. p. 380.
2 Scudamore, ut supra, p. 350.
8 Note by Merati in Gavanti. Commentarxa in Rubricas Missalis Romani. pars in. tit iy. n. vi. ; Thesaurus Sacrorum Rituum, auctore Gavanto. Augsburg, 1763, vol. i. p. 333. b.
618 PART m. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.