. D._ I do not spend much time in discussing the mode. When a young
person is troubled on the subject, I am always careful, first of all, to
find out whether there is any secret bias, for any reason, toward
another denomination; in which case, I pause at once; for you might
argue forever in vain. There is iron on board the ship, which controls
the needle in the compass. I always make it easy and pleasant for such
to follow their evident inclination and wishes.

_Mr. M._ Are they generally ready to go?

_Dr. D._ No, they say they do not like strict communion; but I cannot
help them. I will not be a sectarian, even for infant baptism.

_Mr. M._ Are you in favor of admitting people to our church who do not
believe in infant baptism?

_Dr. D._ Young people, who say that their minds are not made up on the
subject, or those who have not had their attention directed to it,
cannot be required to signify their cordial assent to it; but it is
enough if they are not opposed. In the case of parents who steadfastly
decline to practise infant baptism, after waiting a proper time to
instruct them, I advise them to join another denomination more in
accordance with their views. We do better to be apart, and it is no
reflection upon either side to say this. A Paedobaptist church ought to
maintain its principles by requiring assent to its standard of faith;
yet, where there is no church of a different denomination, within
convenient distance, I surely would not exclude a child of God from the
Lord's Supper for differences of opinion and practice about baptism. I
would admit, by special vote, to occasional, or even to stated
communion, in such a case.

_Mr. M._ Do you ever re-baptize?

_Dr. D._ Where a person was baptized with water, in the name of the
Trinity, by an authorized person, of any denomination, I would not
re-baptize. The alleged heterodox or immoral character of the
administrator, at the time of baptism, does not invalidate it;
otherwise, one might be baptized many times, and, the administrators
proving unworthy, the subject could never get baptized. Christ would
never let his ordinances depend thus upon uncertainties. Let a person
but recognize his baptism, if performed in infancy, by entering publicly
into covenant with God, and that will be sufficient. I endeavor to show
people how wrong it is to lay undue stress on the ordinance, forgetting
whether they have that which is signified by it, and which alone gives
it va