[32]. That is, the evening preceding the day on which Messiah is supposed to have arisen from the dead, and the evening preceding the seventh Sunday after Easter, the anniversary of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Apostles in a remarkable manner (Acts ii.)
[33]. Mosheim vol. I, book ii, part ii. ch. iv.
[34]. Cyprian's Epistles, letter 76.
[35]. Eusebius Eccl. Hist. b. vi, ch. 43.
[36]. Milner's Church Hist. vol. I pp. 429, 430.
[37]. Such is the opinion of Milner—Church Hist. vol. I. p. 430.
[38]. The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying: This cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come.—Paul to the Corinthians. (I Cor. xi: 23-26.)
[39]. These facts are clearly taught by Messiah when he established the sacrament among the Nephites; and of course it was established among the Jews for the same purpose that it was among the Nephites. After having broken the bread and blessed it, and passed it to the multitude, Messiah said: "This shall ye do in remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if you do always remember me, ye shall have my Spirit to be with you." So when he had administered the wine: "Blessed are ye for this thing which ye have done; * * * this doth witness unto the Father that ye are willing to do that which I have commanded you; and this shall ye always do to those who repent and are baptized in my name; and ye shall do it in remembrance of my blood which I have shed for you, that ye may witness unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me, ye shall have my Spirit to be with you."—III Nephi, xviii. See also Moroni, iv and v, where the prayer of consecration is given.
[40]. Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. I, book i, cent. iii, part 2, chapter iv. The banishment of unbaptized people from sacrament meetings was forbidden among the Nephites by Messiah. III Nephi xviii: 22-23.
[41]. Protestants combating the Catholic idea of the real presence of the flesh and blood in the eucharist—transubstantiation—have endeavored to prove that this doctrine was not of earlier origin than the eighth century. In this, however, the evidence is against them. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, writing early in the second century says of certain supposed heretics: "They do not admit of eucharists and oblations, because they do not believe the eucharist to be the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins." (Epistles of Ignatius to the Smyrneans.) So Justin Martyr, also writing in the first half of the second century:—"We do not receive them [the bread and the win] as ordinary food or ordinary drink; but as by the word of God Jesus Christ, our Savior, was made flesh and took upon him both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also the food which was blessed by the prayer of the word which proceeded from him, and from which our flesh and blood, by transmutation, receive nourishment, is, we are taught, both the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh." (Justin's Apology to Emperor Antonius.) After Justin's time the testimony of the fathers is abundant. There can be no doubt as to the antiquity of the idea of the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus in the eucharist; but that proves—as we said of infant baptism—not that the doctrine is true, but that soon after the apostles had passed away, the simplicity of the gospel was corrupted or else entirely departed from.