"Ah, but not in the way the Baptists believe it," spoke up Sterling. "Miss Dorothy, there is a little Baptist mission here in the eastern part of town. I will take you over there that you may take a look at their base of operations, and I think a sight of it will set at rest any further inquiries as to the Baptists."
The members of the little Baptist mission to which Sterling referred worshiped in a plain, unsightly frame chapel. The city had raised the street that ran in front of the building so that the lot on which the chapel stood was left several feet below the level of the pavement and could be reached only by a rough board stairway from the street to the door of the building. Here a Baptist minister had been ministering to a small and struggling flock in connection with two other churches out in the county. The members were poor and many of them unlearned, and the pastor with such a poor building equipment found his task a difficult one.
"Daughter, I think you want to keep away from that Baptist crowd," said Mr. Page. "They are very small fry and I would hate to see you tied up with such folks."
"I have no intention of joining them, and yet I am much bewildered over this matter of church membership. What must I do? I cannot unite with any of these denominations that I have heard about without doing wrong to my conscience."
"Miss Dorothy, you do not have to endorse all the beliefs that every member of your church holds," said Sterling. "Where will you find such a church? Each person must interpret the Bible for himself and be accountable to God only. If a church is composed of Christian people, why is not that the essential thing, and why can you not join with them? You will have to live in Heaven with them, and why can you not live with them here?"
"I am living with them here. I mingle freely with them, but when Christians divide themselves up and group themselves according to their interpretations of Bible teaching, then I must join myself with those who interpret the Bible as I do."
"But suppose you cannot find any church group or denomination that interprets the Bible as you do; what will you do? You have not found such a people yet. Suppose you do not find such, will you stay out of all the churches?"
"That is a puzzling question. I am not sure just now what I ought to do if I find no denomination believing as I do. But really, I would rather stand alone, keeping loyal to my convictions regarding the Bible, than to compromise them in order to join some church. This is all very new to me, but I am determined to stand alone rather than go against my religious convictions. I know that each individual must interpret the Bible as best he can, and it must be his own conclusion, his own conviction, and I certainly shall not join a church whose doctrines I think are contrary to the Bible. Such a church is no place for me. I would be uncomfortable and I would be in constant controversy with the members."
"Well, there is no sin in controversy," said Sterling. "Our discussions, I hope, have not been very wicked. In fact, such discussions are often the best means for bringing people to see the truth. Why not come into our church simply on the ground that we are Christians like yourself, and then try to teach the other members the truths which you hold and which you think we ought to embrace? In other words, I should think you would have the best reason for coming in among us because we need the truth—according to your view—and you could come and sow the good seed among us."
"Oh, Mr. Sterling, what a strange thing you are saying. You surely don't mean it. Do you say that your church will take in people no matter what they believe?"