hewn [221:1] that this statement is inaccurate, and
that baptism does not necessarily imply _dipping_. In ancient times, and
in the lands where the apostles laboured, bathing was perhaps as
frequently performed by _affusion_ as immersion; [221:2] and it may be
that the apostles varied their method of baptizing according to
circumstances. [221:3] The ordinance was intended to convey the idea of
_washing_ or purifying; and it is obvious that water may be applied, in
many ways, as the means of ablution. In the sacred volume _sprinkling_
is often spoken of as equivalent to washing. [221:4]

As baptism was designed to supersede the Jewish circumcision, the Lord's
Supper was intended to occupy the place of the Jewish Passover. [221:5]
The Paschal lamb could be sacrificed nowhere except in the temple of
Jerusalem, and the Passover was kept only once a year; but the Eucharist
could be dispensed wherever a Christian congregation was collected; and
at this period it seems to have been observed every first day of the
week, at least by the more zealous and devout worshippers. [221:6] The
wine, as well as the other element, was given to all who joined in its
celebration; and the title of the "Breaking of _Bread_," [221:7] one of
the names by which the ordinance was originally distinguished, supplies
evidence that the doctrine of transubstantiation was then utterly
unknown. The word _Sacrament_, as applied to Baptism and the Holy
Supper, was not in use in the days of the apostles, and the subsequent
introduction of this nomenclature, [222:1] probably contributed to throw
an air of mystery around these institutions. The primitive disciples
considered the elements employed in them simply as signs and seals of
spiritual blessings; and they had no more idea of regarding the bread in
the Eucharist as the real body of our Saviour, than they had of
believing that the water of baptism is the very blood in which He washed
His people from their sins. They knew that they enjoyed the light of His
countenance in prayer, in meditation, and in the hearing of His Word;
and that He was not otherwise present in these symbolic ordinances.

Whilst, in the Lord's Supper, believers hold fellowship with Christ,
they also maintain and exhibit their communion with each other. "We,
being many," says Paul, "are one bread and one body, for we are all
partakers of that one bread." [222:2] Those who joined together in the
observance of this holy institution were