nk ye all of this." But it should
be remembered that these words were addressed not to the people at large,
but only to the Apostles, who alone were also commanded, on the same
occasion, to consecrate His body and blood in remembrance of Him. Now we
have no more right to infer that the faithful are obliged to drink of the
cup, because the Apostles were commanded to drink of it, than we have to
suppose that the laity are required or allowed to consecrate the bread and
wine, because the power of doing so was at the last Supper conferred on
the Apostles.

It is true also that our Lord said to the people: "Unless ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall not have life in you."
But this command is literally fulfilled by the laity when they partake of
the consecrated bread, which, as we have seen, contains Christ the Lord in
all His integrity. Hence, if our Savior has said: "Whoso eateth My flesh,
and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life," He has also said: "The
bread which I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world."

It seems to me that the charge of withholding the cup comes with very bad
grace from Protestant teachers, who destroy the whole intrinsic virtue of
the Sacrament by giving to their followers nothing but bread and wine. The
difference between them and us lies in this--that under one form we give
the _substance_, while they under two forms confessedly give only the
_shadow_.

In examining the history of the Church on the subject we find that up to
the twelfth century communion was sometimes distributed in one form,
sometimes in another, commonly in both.

First--St. Luke tells us that the converts of Jerusalem "were persevering
in the doctrine of the Apostles, and in the communion of bread (as the
Eucharist was sometimes familiarly called), and in prayer."(383) Again he
speaks of the Christian disciples assembled at Troas on the Lord's day,
"to break bread."(384) We are led to conclude from these passages that the
Apostles sometimes distributed the communion in the form of bread alone,
as no reference is made to the cup.

It was certainly the custom to carry to the sick only the consecrated
Host. Surely if there is any period of life when nothing should be
neglected which conduces to salvation it is the time of approaching death.
Eusebius tells us that the aged Serapion received only the Sacred Bread at
the hands of the Priest. In the _Life_ of St. Ambrose we are told that