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The Reformed did not even hesitate to say that in the event bread or wine were definitely lacking, another food and drink, say rice and bread, could be used as sign in the Lord’s Supper. This is not to say, however, that any arbitrary departure from the institution of Christ is permissible. Just as in our time, so in the early centuries there were some Christians (Tatians, Severians, Gnostics, Manichees, Aquarii) who, prompted by an ascetic principle, substituted water for wine at the Lord’s Supper. But we must not be wiser than Christ, who expressly designated wine as the sign of his blood and whose command in this matter has at all times been followed by the Christian church.