"I know it. I have heard their ministers say that a person was not saved until he was baptized."
"What, even though the person had believed in Christ?"
"They say that such a person is only partly saved and not completely saved until he is baptized."
"I can't understand, Mr. Sterling, what you mean by being partly saved. Don't you reckon you have been misinformed about these people?"
"I have been told that there is a Disciple preacher that lives here in town," said the father, "and that he has two churches out in the county, but makes his home here. Suppose you capture him, Sterling, and march him up here to speak for himself, and tell him you have a prospective member for him." The last remark was accompanied with a smile at Sterling and a wink towards the daughter.
"No, indeed, you must not tell him that," spoke up Dorothy. "And yet I should like to hear about the doctrines of his church. I want to know my duty and I desire all the light I can get."
Sterling felt sure that Dorothy would recoil from the doctrines of the Disciple church.
On the next evening at eight o'clock Mr. Sterling arrived, bringing the Rev. Mr. Garland, the Disciple minister. He was a striking figure. Young, tall and with classic face and fluent speech, he commanded attention at his first word. Sterling saw that he was captured immediately by Dorothy's beauty, and he thought that he also noticed that the handsome young preacher was not entirely unobserved by Dorothy. But the shadowy suspicion flitted out of his mind as rapidly as it had slipped in. Not a great many words were spent in preliminaries. Mr. Sterling soon remarked:
"Miss Dorothy, I have told Mr. Garland about the earnest study you are making of the different churches. The question came up, Mr. Garland, as to the doctrines of your church. I told them your church believed in immersion as baptism and also in the immersion of none but believers."
Mr. Garland with a bow indicated that Sterling had stated the case correctly.