e wine mixed
with water; and carry away some for those who are absent. And this food
is called by us the Eucharist, of which no one may partake unless he
believes that which we teach is true, and is baptized, ... and lives in
such a manner as Christ commanded. For we receive not these elements as
common bread or common drink. But even as Jesus Christ our Saviour ...
had both flesh and blood for our salvation, even so we are taught that
the food which is blessed ... by the digestion of which our blood and
flesh are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made
flesh. For the apostles in the memoirs composed by them, which are
called gospels, have related that Jesus thus commanded them, that having
taken bread and given thanks He said--'Do this in remembrance of me,
this is my body;' and that, in like manner, having taken the cup and
given thanks, He said, 'This is my blood;' and that He distributed them
to these alone." [484:1]

The writer does not here mention the posture of the disciples when
communicating, but it is highly probable that they still continued to
_sit_ [485:1] in accordance with the primitive pattern. As they received
the ordinance in the same attitude as that in which they partook of
their common meals, the story that their religious assemblies were the
scenes of unnatural feasting, may have thus originated. [485:2] For the
first three centuries, _kneeling_ at the Lord's Supper was unknown; and
it is not until about a hundred years after the death of the Apostle
John, that we read of the communicants _standing._ [485:3] Throughout
the whole of the third century, this appears to have been the position
in which they partook of the elements. [485:4]

The bread and wine of the Eucharist were now supplied by the
worshippers, who made "oblations" according to their ability, [485:5]
as well for the support of the ministers of the Church, as for the
celebration of its ordinances. There is no reason to believe that the
bread, used at this period in the holy Supper, was unfermented; for,
though our Lord distributed a loaf, or cake, of that quality when the
rite was instituted, the early Christians seem to have considered the
circumstance accidental; as unleavened bread was in ordinary use among
the Jews at the time of the Passover. The disciples appear to have had
less reason for mixing the wine with water, and they could have produced
no good evidence that such was the beverage used by Christ whe