who was the only one of the
evangelists whose testimony on this point has the value of an
eye-witness--does not mention this narrative. This is a proof that he
did not regard the Eucharist as a peculiarity of the Lord's Supper.
For him the special rite of the Last Supper was the washing of feet.
It is probable that in certain primitive Christian families this
latter rite obtained an importance which it has since lost.[4] No
doubt, Jesus, on some occasions, had practised it to give his
disciples an example of brotherly humility. It was connected with the
eve of his death, in consequence of the tendency to group around the
Last Supper all the great moral and ritual recommendations of Jesus.

[Footnote 1: Matt. xxvi. 26-28; Mark xiv. 22-24; Luke xxii. 19-21; 1
_Cor._ xi. 23-25.]

[Footnote 2: Chap. vi.]

[Footnote 3: Chaps. xiii.-xvii.]

[Footnote 4: John xiii. 14, 15. Cf. Matt. xx. 26, and following; Luke
xxii. 26, and following.]

A high sentiment of love, of concord, of charity, and of mutual
deference, animated, moreover, the remembrances which were cherished
of the last hours of Jesus.[1] It is always the unity of his Church,
constituted by him or by his Spirit, which is the soul of the symbols
and of the discourses which Christian tradition referred to this
sacred moment: "A new commandment I give unto you," said he, "that ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for
all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
These things I command you, that ye love one another."[2] At this last
moment there were again evoked rivalries and struggles for
precedence.[3] Jesus remarked, that if he, the Master, had been in the
midst of his disciples as their servant, how much more ought they to
submit themselves to one another. According to some, in drinking the
wine, he said, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine
until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
kingdom."[4] According to others, he promised them soon a celestial
feast, where they would be seated on thrones at his side.[5]

[Footnote 1: John xiii. 1, and following. The discourses placed by
John after the narrative of the Last Supper cannot be taken as
historical. They are full of p