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Wanted the Sacrament

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 5, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 18.

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Wanted the Sacrament

By E. W. Webster

TROUBLE and reverses had come to a certain mission in the island. There had been a mission and chapel at ——, but owing to the sickness of some of the workers there, it had been deserted, and had dwindled down to seventeen members. One of them, a leper, had begun to keep the Sabbath through reading-matter sent him by some of our people.
To these islanders the “sacrament” is a very holy ordinance. They think they must have it once or twice a year anyway. As this company had been without it for over a year, they were getting very anxious. They held a council and decided to ask me to come and give them the sacrament. They sent a messenger fourteen miles to urge me to come to them.
“We decided,” he said, “to ask you to come. Some said you kept the Sabbath, and we did not want to get stirred up about that; but others said, ‘We won’t have to keep the Sabbath unless he shows it to us from the Bible.’ So we want you to come.”
I replied: “You know that the sacrament means communion, fellowship. Can we have fellowship of the Spirit and of faith if I do go? We all need to understand what it means. I will be glad to go and give you the sacrament; but would it not be best for us to have some lessons on it first, so that we can all enter into the spirit of it, and so have true fellowship? I will go and have a meeting with you.”
It was arranged, and I went and preached to them. But when I got to themost interesting place in the lesson, the time was up, and we had to appoint another meeting. This was, apparently, unavoidably repeated several times. One point of truth led to questions and explanations of others. In this way several weeks passed, with no further inquiries about the sacrament. Within two months ten of this company received all the truth, were baptized and united with the church, had the sacrament, and began to work earnestly for others.
E. W. WEBSTER.