clean vessels. He
then took a thorn of _maguery_, which resembles a thick needle, with
which he took up with the utmost reverence single morsels, _which he put
into the mouth of each individual, after the manner of a
communion_.[311:10]

The writer of the "Explanation of Plates of the _Codex
Vaticanus_,"--which are copies of Mexican _hieroglyphics_--says:

"I am disposed to believe that these poor people have had the
knowledge of our mode of communion, or of the annunciation of
the gospel; or perhaps the _devil_, most envious of the honor
of God, may have led them into this superstition, in order
that by this ceremony he might be adored and served as Christ
our Lord."[312:1]

The Rev. Father Acosta says:

"That which is most admirable in the hatred and presumption of
Satan is, that he hath not only counterfeited in idolatry and
sacrifice, but also in certain ceremonies, _our Sacraments_,
which Jesus Christ our Lord hath instituted and the holy
Church doth use, having especially pretended to imitate in
some sort the _Sacrament of the Communion_, which is the most
high and divine of all others."

He then relates how the _Mexicans_ and _Peruvians_, in certain
ceremonies, ate the flesh of their god, and called certain morsels of
paste, "the flesh and bones of _Vitzilipuzlti_."

"After putting themselves in order about these morsels and
pieces of paste, they used certain ceremonies with singing, by
means whereof they (the pieces of paste) were blessed and
consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idol."[312:2]

These facts show that the _Eucharist_ is another piece of Paganism
adopted by the Christians. The story of Jesus and his disciples being at
supper, where the Master did break bread, may be true, but the statement
that he said, "Do this in remembrance of me,"--"this is my body," and
"this is my blood," was undoubtedly invented to give authority to the
_mystic_ ceremony, which had been borrowed from Paganism.

Why should they do this in remembrance of Jesus? Provided he took this
supper with his disciples--which the _John_ narrator denies[312:3]--he
did not do anything on that occasion new or unusual among Jews. To
pronounce the benediction, break the bread, and distribute pieces
thereof to the persons at table, was, and is now, a common usage of the
Hebrews. Jesus could not have commanded born Jews to do in remembrance
of