1 Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 64.
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farewell — so that it seemed to them that a meal of wasted hope and broken hearts was indeed never to pass away. Protected from the fickleness and frailties of change, it was itself to become the undying form of that new companionship with the risen Master, by which and in which, through the working of the Spirit, He, with the Father to whom He had gone, would for ever come again to them and sit down with them, and eat and drink with them, and make His ever-living abode with them, drinking with them the new blood of the grape, as it is drunk in the kingdom of God.
2. Observe the witness which the Sacrament bears to the truths of Christian belief.
(1) And first of all the wonder that such a thing as this, a little bread and wine given as a keepsake by a Jewish man about to die the next day, should have become what the Christian Sacrament has been in the world for two thousand years, should have been found such as it has certainly been found by men — a treasure of truth to great thinkers ; of sweet grace to saints and heroes ; of simple blessing to homely and plain people ; of deep mystery to philosophers and poets ; that it should have gone with equal power through times so extraordinarily different, and among men of so many races and lands; nay, should have borne this witness of itself to men, who were engaged sometimes in keenest unhappy controversy about some part of its nature and meaning.
(2) Then what are we to say of Him who, on the edge of death, calmly appointed this thing ? Nothing gives stronger witness to the Divine Power, hidden in the Death of Christ, than this, that these words and acts of a dying man became at once the best offering to God, all other sacrifice being put away. And the observance of it, not as a sad memorial of a departed saint, or prophet, or teacher, but as the glad remembrance of a living Lord, is the best of witnesses to the truth of the Eesurrection. It was a great Protestant theologian in Germany who spoke of it as the " climax of the early Christian worship," and found " in its con- tinuing celebration the first proof of the constant belief of Christians in the Divine nature of Christ." Could any mere memorial of the dead have kept its place, and shown the power of the Eucharist all down the centuries till now ?
60 APOSTOLIC CHRISTIANITY
Sometimes I hear the happy birds That sang to Christ beyond the sea,
And softly His consoling words Blend with their joyous minstrelsy.
Sometimes in royal vesture glow The lilies that He called so fair,
Which never toil nor spin, yet show The loving Father's tender care.
And then along the fragrant hills A radiant presence seems to move,
And earth grows fairer, as it fills The very air I breathe with love.
And now I see one Perfect Face, And, hastening to my church's door,
Find Him within the holy place Who, all my way, went on before.1
IV.
The Pkayers.
Finally, there is mention made of " the prayers." These, in Dr. Hort's opinion, are probably Christian prayers at stated hours, answering to Jewish prayers. If we knew more of the synagogue services in Palestine as they were before the fall of Jerusalem, we should perhaps find that these Christian prayers replaced synagogue prayers (which, it must be remembered, are not recognized in the law), as the Apostles' teaching may be supposed to have replaced that of the scribes.2 We know that the Chris- tians in Jerusalem, so long as the temple existed, were accustomed to attend its regular services, and it may well be the case that they also developed a synagogue service of their own. St. James, who presided over that Church, speaks of the Christian "synagogue." It is certain that the synagogue provided the model after which the liturgical services of the Church were originally fashioned — although from the first there were new elements, such as the reading of the apostolic epistles, the exercise of spiritual gifts,
1 Horatio Nelson Powers. a Judaistic Christianity, 44.
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the use of the Lord's Prayer, and, possibly also, Christian hymns, which gave a distinctive aspect to the worship of the Christian synagogue.
Now let us notice two points in connexion with " the prayers " of which we may well make practical application — the place of prayer in public worship, and the value of united prayer.
1. The Place of Prayer in Public Worship. Those who were converted by St. Peter's address remained steadfast in prayer : by which it is intended, not merely that they prayed privately by themselves, for this probably they did before, but that they were regular in attending the prayers of the Christian Church. The Church, though in its infancy, had yet its public services, and those who joined the Apostles' fellowship joined them in their united worship before the throne of God's grace. And this, it should be observed, is the proper fruit of a sermon ; the sermon is rightly appreciated, is manifestly blessed by the Holy Spirit, when it leads persons to value and join heartily in the Church's prayers : the prayers are not the mere introduction to preaching, but preaching is intended to make people pray. This is the right order of things, and this is what we find in the history of the great Pentecostal Day. Whether or not this is so in these days is a question to be determined by experience ; but this is certain, if any preaching is followed after merely for its own sake, and if the effect is not found to be greater earnestness and devotion in the prayers, then it may be the fault of the preacher, or it may be the fault of the people, but there is a fault somewhere, the preacher has missed his aim, his arrows have flown wide of the mark. The same Holy Spirit who came down upon the Church upon the Day of Pentecost, and made the preaching of St. Peter effectual to the conversion of three thousand souls, is with the Church still; and if it is found that in these days many people listen to sermons and yet do not show forth in their lives such clear, practical, almost unmistakable marks of the preaching having touched their hearts, then there is a fault somewhere. It cannot be with God's Holy Spirit ; therefore it must needs lie between minister and people.