How Old Are the Sacraments of the Church?

Catholics believe that Christ instituted the Sacraments during his ministry here on earth. I have attempted to show how Catholics view the sacraments in my last post quoting from Karl Adams. We don't see the sacraments as arduous rituals but joyful opportunities to receive grace from Jesus himself. We don't view them as powerless rituals of man, but God-breathed mechanisms for obtaining his graces in this life to prepare us for eternity. Why does God choose to use the things of earth? I have blogged on this before and won't elaborate again today, but we being physical beings relate to spiritual things via our flesh. As Tertullian said, "the flesh is the hinge of salvation."

An argument is often proposed that Catholics invented the sacraments to cause men to cling to a man-made hierarchy. My question is this? If the sacraments are not instituted by Christ, when did they come about? When did Catholicism invent them? If they are mere "inventions of man," why did the early Church believe in them and practice a faith that was fully sacramental? Why did the Creed in 325 AD state that "we believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins?"
See what the Early Church said about sacraments at the end of Monday's post.

A final thought.....Most Christians believe that God divinely reveals himself through what has come to be known as the Bible. Is it an impossible stretch to believe that the same God who speaks to our mind, will and emotions though ink and papyrus (material things) does also reveal himself through the breaking of the Bread? Historically, the Church believed He was revealing himself in the sacrifice of the Altar at least 360 years before the Bible as we now know it was compiled. At some point, our flesh has to interact with material things. God doesn't reveal Himself just in our thoughts, as the early gnostics believed.