In July, the Baptist Church sent an invitation to the recently united Maritime Baptist Convention, inviting them to hold their first annual meeting at the Charlottetown Baptist Church, in 1905. The Charlottetown invitation pointed out that although provision of catering and entertainment was not possible, their facility was available and they would do their best to make everyone comfortable and assist in obtaining the lowest possible rates at local hotels. In September, the United Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces sent a confirmation, acknowledging their decision to hold their first-ever conference in Charlottetown, at the Baptist Church. Maritime Baptists had, in principal, just completed the terms of union which would bring all Regular Baptist churches into alliance with the Free Baptist churches of the Maritimes.
In principal, Baptist Union did not come easily, with the main problem being opinions relating to observances of the Lord's Supper. For a decade, the Union Committee had accepted the following doctrine:
The Lord’s Supper: The Lord’s Supper is designed to commemorate the sufferings of Christ and to represent the use of bread and wine, the communion which saints have with Him, and with each other. Every baptized believer in Christ, being a member of His body and a part of His visible church, has not only the right to partake of the emblems of His body and His
blood in the communion, but is under obligation thus to commemorate His death.
Prior to this time, people observed communion of their own free will, at the invitation of the minister. Now some churches were observing the Lord’s Supper allowing non-Baptists to participate. Free Baptists generally disagreed with this, and it was not resolved until the following resolution was approved:
Whereas: In the beliefs and the observances of the Regular Baptists and Free Baptist churches, there are only minor differences, with the exception of the observance of the Lord’s Supper
And whereas: We believe the announcement of the observance of this ordinance would be considered sufficient without any invitation (being so understood as to place no bar to communion in the way of members of Christ’s visible church).
Therefore resolved: That the members of this committee recommend that these churches unite in one body, and hope that all Regular Baptist and Free Baptist churches in the Maritime Provinces will, with the least possible delay effect the larger union.”
From the day the Charlottetown Baptist Church was organized in 1836, the One constant ceremony strictly adhered to was the observance of the Lord's Suppen once every month. The silver service set used for communion had somehow SUrvived the 1888 fire. It dated back to the middle of the 19th century. It was now retired in favor of new silver plates, used to distribute portions of bread and small glasSes of grape juice to those who chose to observe Communion. No matter the WESentation, the sacrament of observing the Lord’s Supper on a monthly basis rEmained one of the most serious and meaningful observances for members who
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