Miss Fiske, not knowing the cause of their
silence, and fearing lest they might have been disappointed by the
simplicity of our forms, did not venture to allude to the subject,
till one of them asked, "Is it always, so when you commune, or was
this an unusual occasion?" "Why, did you not enjoy it?" "Not enjoy
it! Jesus Christ himself seemed almost visibly present; it was
difficult to realize that it was not the Saviour in person who
presided at the table. It must have been just such a scene when the
ordinance was first instituted in Jerusalem; and I could not get rid
of the inquiry, 'Shall one of us go out like Judas and betray him?'"
It is a significant fact that those most accustomed to mediaeval
forms, when regenerated by the Spirit, relish them the least; and
the more spiritual they become, the more they crave the simple forms
of the New Testament, because they draw the least attention to
themselves, and fix it most completely on the Saviour.
In January, 1855, as many as seventy of the converts, after careful
examination, were allowed to partake; and once every four months the
privilege was renewed, with an accession of from twelve to thirty
communicants each time.
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