15. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper has been regarded as an essential ordinance from the time of its establishment in the Church by Jesus Christ. Yet in spite of its sanctity it has undergone radical alteration both as to its symbolism and its accepted purpose. The sacrament, as instituted by the Savior and as administered during the days of the apostolic ministry, was as simple as it was sacred and solemn. Accompanied by the true spirit of the gospel, its simplicity was sanctifying; as interpreted by the spirit of apostasy its simplicity became a reproach. Hence we find that in the third century, long sacramental prayers were prescribed, and much pomp was introduced. Vessels of gold and silver were used by such congregations as could afford them, and this with ostentatious display. Nonmembers and members "who were in a penitential state" were excluded from the sacramental service--in imitation of the exclusiveness accompanying heathen mysteries. Disputation and dissension arose as to the proper time of administering the sacrament--morning, noon, or evening; and as to the frequency with which the ordinance should be celebrated.--(See Note 5, end of chapter.) 16. At a later date the doctrine of _Transubstantiation_ was established as an essential tenet of the Roman Church. This briefly summarized, is to the effect that the species--i. e., the bread and wine used in the sacrament--lose their character as mere bread and wine, and become in fact the flesh and blood of the crucified Christ. The transmutation is assumed to take place in such a mystical way as to delude the senses; and so, though actual flesh and actual blood, the elements still appear to be bread and wine. This view, so strongly defended and earnestly reverenced by orthodox members of the Roman Church, is vehemently denounced by others as "an absurd tenet,"-- (Milner) and a "monstrous and unnatural doctrine."--(Mosheim.) 17. There has been much discussion as to the origin of this doctrine,--(See Note 6, end of chapter.) the Roman Catholics claiming for it a great antiquity, while their opponents insist that it was an innovation of the eighth or ninth century. According to Milner it was openly taught in the ninth century;--(Milner, "Church History," Cent. IX, ch. 1.) was formally established as a dogma of the Church by the Council of Placentia A. D. 1095,--(The same, Cent. XI, ch. 1) and was made an essential article of creed, belief in which was required of all by action of the Roman ecclesiastical court about 1160.--(The same, Cent. XIII, ch. 1.) An official edict of the pope, Innocent III, confirmed the dogma as a binding tenet and requirement of the Church in 1215;--(Mosheim, "Eccl. Hist.," Cent. XIII, Part II, ch. 3:2.) and it remains practically in force in the Roman Catholic Church today. The doctrine was adopted by the Greek Church in the seventeenth century.--(The same. Cent. XVII, Part II, ch. 2:3.)