lvation" was first necessary before one was
scripturally entitled to either baptism or church membership. It was
also freely admitted that a truly repentant and converted Methodist was
just as truly "saved" and as sure of heaven as any Baptist,--and that
there were many such there could be no doubt,--true members of the
kingdom of God and the Church Universal; true heirs of glory and fit
subjects for the heavenly kingdom,--yet not fit for membership in the
earthly church, admittedly imperfect at its best, solely because they
had not been dipped under the water, an ordinance admitted to be
secondary, and wholly unnecessary to the main object!

I began to wonder from whence came the authority to bar the doors of
God's earthly church against those who were clearly admitted to be
members of the Church Universal, and of God's spiritual kingdom. Thus
my faith in the exclusive claims of my church to be the _only true
church_ on earth, was very much weakened; tho I still firmly believed
it to be the best church, and by far the most scriptural, orthodox and
apostolic. Yet, I could not see why we might not affiliate with, and
co-operate more with our Methodist brethren, imperfect and unscriptural
(?) as their ecclesiastical organization was, especially in carrying
forward the great central object we both had in view, the salvation of
souls from hell; and more especially, since there was no substantial
disagreement between us as to the means and processes of accomplishing
this object; our real differences beginning only _after_ this was
accomplished. The Methodists were always willing to co-operate with us
to the fullest extent we would permit them; but we, never, with them.

During the summer that followed the close of my sophomore year in
college (which, as subsequent events will show, proved to be my last),
an event occurred that so affected my future ecclesiastical relations
that it needs to be told in some detail.

As is generally well known, one of the principal differences between
the Baptist and Methodist churches is their difference of view in
regard to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, as well as that of the
mode of baptism. The Methodists, as liberal evangelicals, offer it to
all Christians present when it is celebrated, leaving it to each
individual to judge for himself as to his fitness to partake of it;
while the Baptists limit it to "members in good and regular standing"
in their own "faith and order." The