“Ah!” thought Murray, “that means me!”
“We believe that repentance and faith are the work of the Holy Ghost, showing themselves in forsaking sin and in loving God and man.”
“Oh!” thought Murray, “that means me again. Was that Who did it all for me? The Holy Ghost! And I have never known what that was before! There is a great deal I need to know!”
“We believe,” went on the minister in clear tones, “that the Sabbath is to be kept holy.”
“We believe that Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are both duties and privileges.”
At that moment Murray noticed for the first time that there was a white spread table down before the pulpit, covered over with a fine white cloth of damask. The Lord’s Supper! A solemn awe seemed to come over the room. It was something like the Holy Grail that he had had to write an essay on in school once.
“We believe,” went on the minister again, “that there will be a resurrection and judgment, when the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.”
Ah! That Judgment Day! Did this change that had come to him mean a difference at the judgment? The born again ones were those whose names were written in that “other book,” he remembered. Then he was one of those!
“These things you believe?” The minister seemed to be looking straight at him, and he found himself asserting. In his heart he knew that he accepted these things. They were new to him, but he meant to believe them. They were a part of the new world into which he had been born, and of course he believed them.
“You will now enter into covenant with God and this church.”