ng
of the anagram which the word [Greek: ICHTHYS] contains, was probably
combined with a more ancient tradition on the place of fish in the
Gospel repasts.]

Their repasts were among the sweetest moments of the infant community.
At these times they all assembled; the master spoke to each one, and
kept up a charming and lively conversation. Jesus loved these seasons,
and was pleased to see his spiritual family thus grouped around
him.[1] The participation of the same bread was considered as a kind
of communion, a reciprocal bond. The master used, in this respect,
extremely strong terms, which were afterward taken in a very literal
sense. Jesus was, at the same time, very idealistic in his
conceptions, and very materialistic in his expression of them. Wishing
to express the thought that the believer only lives by him, that
altogether (body, blood, and soul) he was the life of the truly
faithful, he said to his disciples, "I am your nourishment"--a phrase
which, turned in figurative style, became, "My flesh is your bread, my
blood your drink." Added to this, the modes of speech employed by
Jesus, always strongly subjective, carried him still further. At
table, pointing to the food, he said, "I am here"--holding the
bread--"this is my body;" and of the wine, "This is my blood"--all
modes of speech which were equivalent to, "I am your nourishment."

[Footnote 1: Luke xxii. 15.]

This mysterious rite obtained great importance in the lifetime of
Jesus. It was probably established some time before the last journey
to Jerusalem, and it was the result of a general doctrine much more
than a determinate act. After the death of Jesus, it became the great
symbol of Christian communion,[1] and it is to the most solemn moment
of the life of the Saviour that its establishment is referred. It was
wished to see, in the consecration of bread and wine, a farewell
memorial which Jesus, at the moment of quitting life, had left to his
disciples.[2] They recognized Jesus himself in this sacrament. The
wholly spiritual idea of the presence of souls, which was one of the
most familiar to the Master, which made him say, for instance, that he
was personally with his disciples[3] when they were assembled in his
name, rendered this easily admissible. Jesus, we have already said,
never had a very defined notion of that which constitutes
individuality. In the degree of exaltation to which he had attained,
the ideal surpassed everything to such an e