Thibet and Tartary offer to their god
a sacrament of _bread and wine_.[305:4]

P. Andrada La Crozius, a French missionary, and one of the first
Christians who went to Nepaul and Thibet, says in his "History of
India:"

"Their Grand Lama celebrates a species of sacrifice with
_bread_ and _wine_, in which, after taking a small quantity
himself, he distributes the rest among the Lamas present at
this ceremony."[306:1]

In certain rites both in the _Indian_ and the _Parsee_ religions, the
devotees drink the juice of the Soma, or _Haoma_ plant. They consider it
a _god_ as well as a plant, just as the wine of the Christian sacrament
is considered both the juice of the grape, and the blood of the
Redeemer.[306:2] Says Mr. Baring-Gould:

"Among the ancient Hindoos, _Soma_ was a chief deity; he is
called 'the Giver of Life and of health,' the 'Protector,' he
who is 'the Guide to Immortality.' He became incarnate among
men, was taken by them and slain, and brayed in a mortar. But
he rose in flame to heaven, to be the 'Benefactor of the
World,' and the 'Mediator between God and Man.' Through
communion with him in his sacrifice, man, (who partook of this
god), has an assurance of immortality, for by that _sacrament_
he obtains union with his divinity."[306:3]

The ancient _Egyptians_--as we have seen--annually celebrated the
_Resurrection_ of their God and Saviour _Osiris_, at which time they
commemorated his death by the _Eucharist_, eating the sacred cake, or
wafer, _after it had been consecrated by the priest, and become
veritable flesh of his flesh_.[306:4] The bread, after sacerdotal rites,
became mystically the body of _Osiris_, and, in such a manner, _they ate
their god_.[306:5] Bread and wine were brought to the temples by the
worshipers, as offerings.[306:6]

The _Therapeutes_ or _Essenes_, whom we believe to be of Buddhist
origin, and who lived in large numbers in Egypt, also had the ceremony
of the sacrament among them.[306:7] Most of them, however, being
temperate, substituted water for wine, while others drank a mixture of
water and wine.

Pythagoras, the celebrated Grecian philosopher, who was born about the
year 570 B. C., performed this ceremony of the _sacrament_.[306:8] He is
supposed to have visited Egypt, and there availed himself of all such
mysterious lore as the priests could be induced to impart. He and his
followers practiced asceti