LiTERATURK.— See artt. 'Sackcloth* In II DB (A. R. S. Kennedy) and Elli (S. A. Cook). JaMES StuAIIAN.
SACRAMENTS.— Neither in the NT nor in the
other Christian writings of the 1st cent, is there any trace of the use of a common name to desig- nate those observances which were afterwards classilied more or less comprehensively as sacra- ments. The word sacramentum (see W. Warde Fowler, The Rclitjious Experience of the Roman People, London, iOll, p. 464 f., and notes 28-33), as applied to denominate such rites, occurs lirst in the famous letter (x. 97) of the Younger Pliny to the Emperor Trajan (c. A.D. 112) ; but its employ- ment in that letter may be merely accidental. In Christian usage the term makes its earliest appear- ance in the Old Latin version and in TertuUian, and there stands as a rendering of livarripiop, and as synonymous with mysterium. The word iiva- T-qpiov did not acquire its special reference to the Christian sacraments until later than this period. In the NT it is never applied to institutions or observances, the nearest approach to such a signi- ficance being in Eph 5'-, where St. Paul asserts regarding marriage, rb ixvarifpiov toOto ixiya (stIv. An approximation to subsequent usage may perhaps be detected in Ignatius ; but even of the plirase 'deacons of the mysteries of Jesus Christ' (jT^-aW. ii. 3) Lightfoot says that a restriction of its refer- ence to the Eucharist ' would be an anachronism.' The absence of any common name for the sacra- ments indicates the absence in this period of any defined sacramental concept. It is true that ideas as well as things must be already in existence before they receive a name ; but it is also true that prior to their designation ideas remain uncrystal- lized. The kindred nature of the ecclesiastical rites known as mysteries and sacraments — their kindred nature as belonging to the externals of Christian practice — must obviously have been perceived from the first. Harnack, indeed, places the grouping together of Baptism and the Eucharist as among ' a series of the most important Christian customs and ideas' whose origin is involved in obscurity and 'in all probability will never be cleared up' (History of Dogma, Eng. tr., 7 vols., London, 1894- 99, i. 132 f.). Nevertheless, the affinity of these two principal sacraments appears to have been recognized from the earliest times. They are mentioned in conjunction as of the same order by the Didache (vii. 1, ix. 1, 5), and by Ignatius (Smyrn. viii. 1, 2, ' where the iydirri must include the eucharist' [Lightfoot]). Both are referred to by implication in a manner exactly analogous in the parallel discourses of the Fourth Gospel on the New Birth and the Bread of Life (Jn 3 and 6). An allusion to both may possibly underlie Jn 19*'', 1 Co 12>', He JO", 1 Jn 5"-*. Their connexion in the mind of St. Paul, when he conjoins the type of Baptism 'in the cloud and in the sea' with the type of the Eucharist in the ' spiritual meat ' and 'spiritual drink' of the wilderness (1 Co lO'"''), scarcely admits of question. And the primal picture of the life of the Christian community given in the Acts of the Apostles (2'"- ■"• *) exhibits these sacraments as united together in primitive
observance. In one of the passages cited above (1 Co 10'"'') there is evidence, moreover, not only of the association of Baptism and the Eucharist in the mind of the Apostle himself, but also of the existence of a general sacramental idea in the minds of tho.se to whom he writes ; for the argu- ment develojied in the succeeding verses (vv.°"'^) seems to lose jioint unless it be directed against an improper and unethical application of certain views then prevailing as to the character and virtue pos- sessed by these two sacraments in common.
The ausence of any defined sacramental concept is naturally accompanied by the absence of any formulated doctrine of the sacraments in general. This does not mean, of course, that in.struction as to the institution, purpose, and significance of individual sacraments was at any time neglected in the Apostolic Church. It is inconceivable that such instruction ditl not invariably find a place in the elementary teaching (Ac S'-' IS-" li)*) imparted to every believer concerning the first principles of the doctrine of Christ (He 6'- -). The sacramental references in the Didache, Hernias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Clement of Rome, all assume that their readers are familiar with the doctrine of Bajitism and the Eucharist. The allusive nature of the references to Baptism in St. Paul's Epistles plainly infers that those addressed had been carefully grounded in the relative doctrine. The same nuiy be said regarding the reference to the Eucharist in 1 Co lO'"- " ; w'hile the one example afiorded of direct instruction upon the subject of the Loi'd's Supper (1 Co 11""'*) expressly adverts to instruc- tion previously given (v.-^) as well as to supplement- ary instruction to be administered on a future occasion (v.'''). But, in accordance with the educa- tive order which rules in the history of the Church — truth and life first, explanations afterwards— the elaboration of sacramental doctrine belongs to a later period than that of the 1st century. ' Cyril [Catechetical Lectures] is the first church-teacher who treats of baptism, the oil, and the Eucharist, in their logical sequence, and in accordance with general principles ' (Harnack, iv. 293).