the holy communion under the form of bread alone, the hermits also
preserved it in the deserts, the sick received it as their viaticum,
the ministers of God kept it in the churches, for their spiritual
support, and the bishops used to send it to their clergy in token of
their union in charity. These were all instances of communion under
one kind, which are enumerated and proved by many Catholic divines,
as for instance by Dr. Rock in his Hierurgia. They demonstrate the
constant belief of the church, that the whole sacrament is received
under one kind only; and Christ himself in the scriptures attributes
its admirable effects to the act of _eating_ only as well as to that
of _eating and drinking_. "He that eateth this bread shall live for
ever" etc. In fact since His resurrection "He dieth now no more": His
body and blood and soul and Divinity are united together for evermore,
and consequently the communicant receives under the form of bread
alone Christ himself whole and entire. The Latin church prescribed
the general reception of communion under one kind, in order to obviate
accidents which frequently arose from the indiscriminate use of the
chalice, and in opposition to the error of the Hussites: Thus Paul
II took occasion from the presence of Frederic III at Rome, to give a
public and illustrious proof of the condemnation of this new heresy
by the church, by giving communion under one kind only to the Emperor,
and also to the deacon and subdeacon, who generally communicate under
both kinds when the Pope sings mass. In the Greek and other oriental
churches communion is administered under one kind to the sick and
others who are prevented by distance from communicating in the
churches. The general communion customary on holy-thursday is
prescribed by the English bishop Walter in the 10th century, in the
capitulary of Theodulph of Orleans, and by all ancient pontificals and
missals, according to Martene T. 3, p. 98. It is practised also by the
Greeks, as Leo Allatius testifies. De consensu utriusque Ecclesiæ lib.