Already in the time of Paul the communion service was beginning to lose its first simple spontaneity, as we may note in his directions to the Church at Corinth, but for long afterwards the Eucharist was in a much wider sense sacramental, than when its meaning was defined and imprisoned in the formulae of theologians. How full of beauty must the eucharist have been in those little churches of Asia Minor, [20] for which perhaps the Didache, "The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," was written, towards the beginning of the second century. The eucharist prayer of the Didache is a true prayer of thanks: "We thank Thee, our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou didst make known to us through Thy servant Jesus; Unto Thee the glory evermore !" "For as this broken piece of bread was scattered over the mountains and brought together and became one, so may Thy church be brought together from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom, for Thine is the glory and the power through Christ Jesus evermore."
Thus was the eucharist meal to early Christians a symbol of the unity of the Church, and a means of drawing them nearer in thought to each other. [p.76]
It is sad to think that what in those days was a bond of union should have become in later times a source of bitter contention and misunderstanding; may we not resolve that for our part, however we may differ from each other, or from the majority of Christians, in our views about this observance, we will not let this hinder us from realizing that others may be helped by means which do not aid us, and that it is infinitely better to draw near to God through outward forms than to be without them and not to draw near to Him: that what we need is to realize and to claim the liberty by which a hundred forms may become sacramental, and not to deny the reality of the life which may underlie the fixed forms which others use.
Luther once said that God might have made a sacrament of a bit of stick, had He chosen; Pusey repeated the saying to a friend with a shudder, telling him that it showed an irreverent mind. [21] Yet surely Luther's words convey the very key to our comprehending the truth of the Real Presence, which may be revealed without outward form, or under innumerable forms, just because God is so much nearer than we think, ever at work in His world, still disclosing Himself to those who seek with humble heart, even though they call Him not by His name. What we need above all is the spirit which will fill our lives with such sacraments, revelations of God to us and to our fellows. Sometimes we may be helped by an [p.77] ancient usage of the Church, at others by some new symbol: what matter the shape of the chalice if the wine be there?
John Henry Newman, in his early Protestant days, was wont to make use of the sign of the cross and to find it helpful. It is a sacrament which loses its meaning the moment one thinks of it as having any magical effect in itself, but if it be used to remind oneself of that which it stands for, as the symbol of the perfect deed of self-sacrifice, it may well help many learners in the school of Christ.
In like manner to-day, the wearing of a badge of membership in some society, or adult school (as twenty years ago a piece of blue ribbon), may doubtless prove an effectual sacrament to many men, aiding them to be faithful to a resolution made, as well as showing forth their belief to others. The sign is in itself useless, yet may mean much to the men who make it their symbol of comradeship.
The more worth living our lives prove, the fuller they will be of true sacraments, in little things and in great. The immense sacrament of nature is ever about us, and our human intercourse is made up, in all that makes it of worth, of count- less lesser sacraments. What meaning there may be in a simple handshake, and how much help and strength it may pass on to another! The mere physical act is as nothing in itself, yet it may avail to alter a whole life. Nevertheless, [p.78] we must see even here how easily mere custom may diminish or destroy the use of such a thing. In the studied greeting of formal civility the sacramental character disappears. Or worse still, that which was intended to be a medium of friendship becomes a means of undoing friendship's work. For so long as wrong exists in our lives we must beware of the sacraments of evil by which the ties which bind us to each other and to the world about us become the Devil's bonds instead of God's leading-strings.
The act, or the thing which forms the sacrament, may be in itself used either for good or ill. To one man even it may be good, while to another it may be a means of harm. The greater need, therefore, have we neither to judge our neighbour, nor ourselves to do lightly things which may be a means of good for him, but for us a sacrament of ill.
To take a single instance: Wandering in his father's library, a boy comes upon a book which he begins to read; and suddenly the conviction comes to him that he ought not to go on. The book is full of interest; perhaps in later years he may return to it and find its thoughts most helpful. And yet it may be that this book, which at a later time might prove a sacrament of good, may be for him now nothing but a sacrament of evil, since his mind is not ready to understand its teaching.
In the world without us there are some things so constantly associated with thoughts of goodness [p.79] and beauty that they seem almost naturally God's sacraments. Such are the flowers, which constantly call to our minds thoughts of joy and kindness; the sunlight, which cheers and invigorates; and drives away the disease that is the symbol of wrongdoing; the light, whose essence is so pure that it has become an image of the Divine nature. These are among nature's sacraments, and in the life of man we have, above all, the sacrament of the family, which at its best is an image of the love of the All-highest, and a foretaste of His Kingdom among men, of the city which is to be, in which all are members of one another, living to serve each other.