"Oh, how selfish!"
"They believe that unless you have been immersed you must not come to the table," said Mr. Sterling, "and they will not let anybody come to the table when they have it in their church unless he has been baptized in their way."
"Why not?"
"I don't know, unless it be because they are so ignorant and narrow."
"Maybe they believe," ventured Dorothy, "that a person ought to be baptized before he takes the communion."
"Of course," said Sterling, "that is just what they do believe; and since I come to think of it, our church holds the same position as to baptism. Our church believes that a person must first be baptized."
"You mean," said Dorothy, "that your church and the Baptists believe alike on the communion question?"
"Not exactly. We both believe that baptism must come before the communion, but we differ as to what constitutes baptism."
"Does the Bible teach that a person must be baptized before he can commune?"
"The Bible teaches that all who believed were immediately baptized. That always seemed to be the first thing they did."