"Of course they could not cease all activity."
"Why, then, do you pick out the Lord's Supper as something they must not engage in until they were baptized?"
"Because," said Sterling, "there are two ordinances, and if the ordinance of baptism always came first, then the other ordinance must not come first, and so I think it is clear that only baptized persons had the right to the table. Don't you remember about the people converted on the day of Pentecost? It reads 'then they that gladly received his words were baptized', and then in the next verse we read that 'they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrines and prayer and in breaking of bread'. Notice 'breaking of bread' came after baptism."
"Does the Bible say anything about who ought to commune or who did commune in those days?" asked Dorothy.
"Get your concordance, daughter," said the father.
Dorothy did so and soon turned to a passage about the Lord's Supper. "In First Corinthians, chapter nine, the writer is writing to some people about celebrating the Lord's Supper."
"Is that so!" exclaimed the father. "Find out then whom he is writing to and who are taking part in that supper, and that will answer your question."
"It was the Corinthian church," said Mr. Sterling.
"If it was the members of the church who were taking communion, then they must all have been baptized, don't you think so, Mr. Garland?" asked Dorothy.
"I guess the members of that church at Corinth which was founded by Paul were all baptized."