or praise, or any
other divine observance. They conceived that, as the soul of man is
united to his body, the Logos, or Divine nature of Christ, pervades the
consecrated bread and wine, so that they may be called His flesh and
blood; and they imagined that, in consequence, the sacred elements
imparted to the material frame of the believer the germ of immortality.
[489:1] Irenaeus declares that "our bodies, receiving the Eucharist, are
no longer corruptible, but possessed of the hope of eternal life."
[489:2] This misconception of the ordinance was the fruitful source of
superstition. The mere elements began to be regarded with awful
reverence; the loss of a particle of the bread, or of a drop of the
wine, was considered a tremendous desecration; and it was probably the
growth of such feelings which initiated the custom of _standing_ at the
time of participation. But still there were fathers who were not carried
away with the delusion, and who knew that the disposition of the
worshipper was of far more consequence than the care with which he
handled the holy symbols. "You who frequent our sacred mysteries," says
Origen, "know that when you receive the body of the Lord, you take care
with all due caution and veneration, that not even the smallest particle
of the consecrated gift shall fall to the ground and be wasted. [489:3]
If, through inattention, any part thus falls, you justly account
yourselves guilty. If then, with good reason, you use so much caution in
preserving His body, how can you esteem it a _lighter sin to slight the
Word of God_ than to neglect His body?" [489:4]

"The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of
earth purified seven times." [489:5] The history of Baptism and the
Lord's Supper demonstrates that, when speaking of the ordinances of
religion, it is exceedingly dangerous to depart, even from the
phraseology, which the Holy Spirit has dictated. In the second century
Baptism was called "regeneration" and the Eucharistic bread was known by
the compendious designation of "the Lord's body." Such language, if
typically understood, could create no perplexity; but all by whom it was
used could scarcely be expected to give it a right interpretation, and
thus many misconceptions were speedily generated. In a short time names,
for which there is no warrant in the Word of God, were applied to the
Lord's Supper; and false doctrines were eventually deduced from these
ill-chosen and una