CHRISTIAN    WORSHIP  153

love  of  Christ,  not  alone  on  the  Cross  but  in  the  re-
peated giving  of  himself  to  his  grateful  followers  at
this  particular  service.  It  was  a  communion  with
Christ  who  communicated  to  them  grace  for  resolute
and  steadfast  character.  It  was  also  a  communion
with  one  another  which  strengthened  the  ties  of  broth-
erhood and  increased  faith,  fealty  and  fellowship.  It
further  proclaimed  the  communion  of  saints  —  not
only  those  who  were  actually  present  but  the  vast
multitude  of  every  age,  throughout  the  world,  "  who
from  their  labors  rest,"  and  who  mutually  confess
"  all  are  one  in  Thee,  for  all  are  Thine."  Very
marked  was  the  thanksgiving  before,  during  and  after
the  observance  of  this  sacrament,  fittingly  called  the
Eucharist,  the  Communion  Service,  the  Lord's  Sup-
per. These  names  severally  represented  one  or  other
aspects  and  benefits  of  this  central  rite  in  Christian
worship.21  Those  who  partook  of  it  realized  them-
selves as  sinners  redeemed  by  Jesus  Christ ;  and,  as  his
good  soldiers,  they  renewed  the  oath  of  allegiance  as
often  as  they  attended  this  service.  It  also  gave  them
an  opportunity  for  the  appropriation  of  grace,  for  the
appreciation  of  mercy,  for  the  acknowledgment  of
obligation,  and  for  the  acceptance  of  duty.  The  Holy
Communion  has  borne  witness  to  the  continuity  of  the
church  throughout  the  changing  centuries.  It  has  also
been  the  occasion  of  wicked  wrangling  caused  by
extremist  leaders.  We  need  not  follow  the  lamentable
course  in  this  tortuous  and  dismal  chapter  of  Church
history.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  the  lessons  of  these
unworthy  strifes  for  triumph  more  than  truth  have
not  yet  been  taken  to  heart.     Vain  are  the  efforts  of

21  Cf.  Mackay:  The  Disease  and  Remedy  of  Sin,  Ch.  IX,
"Holy  Communion  as  a  Medicine  of  the  Soul";  David  Smith:
The  Feast  of  the  Covenant;  Mansfield  College  Essays,  "The
Eucharist  in  the  Early  Church  "  by  Bartlett,  p.  45  ff.
