Part 24 (1/2)
CHAPTER LXXIII
FIRST COMMUNION ON ANIWA
AND this leads me to relate the story of our First Communion on Aniwa
It was Sabbath, 24th October 1869; and surely the Angels of God and the Church of the Redeereat cloud of witnesses” who eagerly ”peered” down upon the scene,--e sat around the Lord's Table and partook the memorials of His body and blood with those few souls rescued out of the Heathen World My Communicants' Class had occupied me now a considerable tie were explicit, and had to be made very severe, and only twenty were adave evidence of understanding what they were doing, and of having given their hearts to the service of the Lord Jesus At their own urgent desire, and after every care in exa, they were solemnly dedicated in prayer to be baptized and admitted to the Holy Table On that Lord's Day, after the usual opening Service, I gave a short and careful exposition of the Ten Co to the Gospel The twelve Candidates then stood up before all the inhabitants there assembled; and, after a brief exhortation to them as Converts, I put to theave an affirmative reply, ”Do you, in accordance with your profession of the Christian Faith, and your promises before God and the people, wish me now to baptize you?”
And--”Will you live henceforth for Jesus only, hating all sin and trying to love and serve your Saviour?”
Then, beginning with the old Chief, the twelve ca to the Presbyterian usage Two of them had also little children, and they were at the same time baptized, and received as the lambs of the flock Solemn prayer was then offered, and in the name of the Holy Trinity the Church of Christ on Anias formally constituted I addressed them on the words of the Holy Institution--1 Corinthians xi 23--and then, after the prayer of Thanksgiving and Consecration, administered the Lord's Supper, the first time since the Island of Anias heaved out of its coral depths! Mrs
M'nair,with six Aneityumese Teachers, communicated with the newly baptized twelve And I think, if ever in all ht truly add the blessed words--”Jesus in the midst”
The whole Service occupied nearly three hours The Islanders looked on with a wonder whose unwonted silence was almost painful to bear Many were led to inquire carefully about everything they saw, so new and strange For the first tiift from South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to use--a new Coave it in faith that ould require it, and in such we received it And now the day had coht for this At the moment when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of Cannibalism, but now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces I shall never taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself
On the afternoon of that Co was held under the shade of the great banyan tree in front of our Church
Seven of the new Churchsung after each My heart was so full of joy that I could do little else but weep Oh, I wonder, I wonder, when I see soon each other's heels, whether they would not part with all their hoo out to the Heathen World and reap a joy like this--”the joy of the Lord”
CHAPTER LXXIV
THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER
THE new Social Order, referred to already in its dis, rose around us like a sweet-scented flower I never interfered directly, unless expressly called upon or appealed to The two principal Chiefs were impressed with the idea that there was but one law--the Will of God; and one rule for them and their people as Christians--to please the Lord Jesus In every difficulty they consultedthe very words of Holy Scripture, shohat appeared to me to be the will of God and ould please the Saviour; and then sent them away to talk it over with their people, and to apply these principles of the Word of God as wisely as they could according to their circumstances Our own part of the ent on very joyfully, notwithstanding occasional trying and painful incidents Individual cases of greed and selfishness and vice brought us
But the Lord never lost patience with us, and we durst not therefore lose patience with them! We trained the Teachers, we translated and printed and expounded the Scriptures, we ; we dispensed ht them the use of tools, we advised therew and developed, and bore adost men
Our life and ill reveal itself to the reader if I briefly outline a Sabbath Day on Aniwa Breakfast is partaken of is, and ere it stops every worshi+per is seated The Natives are guided in starting by the sunrise, and are forward from farthest corners at this early hour The first Service is over in about an hour; there is an interval of twenty ins We follow the ordinary Presbyterian ritual; but in every Service I call upon an Elder or a Church Mereat alacrity and with much benefit to all concerned
As the last worshi+per leaves, at close of second Service, the bell is sounded twice very deliberately, and that is the signal for the opening of my Communicants' Class I carefully expound the Church's Shorter Catechiss are built upon Holy Scripture, applying each truth to the conscience and the life This class is conducted all the year round; and from it, step by step, our Church Members are drawn as the Lord opens up their way, theadmitted to the Lord's Table This discipline accounts for the fact that so very few of our baptized converts have ever fallen away--as few in proportion, I verily believe, as in Churches at ho a prayer- started of their own free accord,--in which they invoke God's blessing on all the work and worshi+p of the day
Having snatched a brief meal of tea, or a cold dinner cooked on Saturday, the bell rings within an hour, and our Sabbath School asse and old, take part,the address, as well as questioning on the lesson, Mrs Paton teaching a large class of adult wo the ordinary classes for about half-an-hour or so
About one o'clock the School is closed, and we then start off on our village tours An experienced Elder, with several Teachers, takes one side of the Island this Sabbath, I with another co the other side, and next Sabbath we reverse the order A short Service is conducted in the open air, or in Schoolrooe that can be reached and on their return they report to ress in the work of the Lord The whole Island is thus steadily andI ains to approach, the canoe drue, and the people assee prayers The Elder or Teacher presides Five or six hy, and five or six short prayers offered between, and thus the evening hour passes happily in the fellowshi+p of God On a cal, after Christianity had fairly taken hold of the people, and they loved to sing over and over again their favorite hys formed a most blessed close to every day, and set the far-distant bush echoing with the praises of God
Nor is our week-day life less crowded or busy, though in different ways
At gray dawn on Monday, and every , the _Tavaka_ (= the canoe drue on Aniwa The whole inhabitants turn in to the early School, which lasts about an hour and a half, and then the Natives are off to their plantations Having partaken of breakfast, I then spendthe sick, or whatever else is ent About two o'clock the Natives return from their work, bathe in the sea, and dine off cocoanut, breadfruit, or anything else that cos, and the afternoon School for the Teachers and the more advanced learners then occupy my wife and myself for about an hour and a half
After this, the Natives spend their ti supper,--which is ast them always _the_ ain, and the day closes ae prayers from under their several banyan trees
Thus day after day and week after week passed over us on Aniwa; and much the same on all the Islands where the Missionary has found a home In many respects it is a simple and happy and beautiful life; and the s that are dear to Jesus, feels no desire to exchange it for the poor frivolities of what calls itself ”Society,”
which seems to find its life in pleasures that Christ cannot be asked to share, and in which, therefore, Christians should have neither lot nor part
CHAPTER LXXV