On the next evening at eight o'clock Mr. Sterling arrived, bringing the Rev. Mr. Garland, the Disciple minister. He was a striking figure. Young, tall and with classic face and fluent speech, he commanded attention at his first word. Sterling saw that he was captured immediately by Dorothy's beauty, and he thought that he also noticed that the handsome young preacher was not entirely unobserved by Dorothy. But the shadowy suspicion flitted out of his mind as rapidly as it had slipped in. Not a great many words were spent in preliminaries. Mr. Sterling soon remarked: "Miss Dorothy, I have told Mr. Garland about the earnest study you are making of the different churches. The question came up, Mr. Garland, as to the doctrines of your church. I told them your church believed in immersion as baptism and also in the immersion of none but believers." Mr. Garland with a bow indicated that Sterling had stated the case correctly. "I also said that your church believed in baptismal regeneration." "Oh, never!" replied Mr. Garland. "I thought you believed that a person was not saved until he was baptized." "Yes, but that is a very different statement from your first one." "What is the difference? If he is not saved until he is baptized, then I should think his baptism must have something to do with his salvation." "Here is my position: 'The Bible declares that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved'. Note that not he that believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That shows that it takes both believing and baptism to save a person." "How about the thief on the cross? He was saved without baptism, don't you think so?" "Baptism was impossible for him, and God does not require impossibilities. Besides, that was an unusual case and Christ made an exception in his conversion and salvation." "But does the Bible say it was an exceptional case? If he could be saved without baptism, why not others? But let me remind you that you did not read to the end of that passage that you quoted just now. You read a part--'he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved'--but read the remainder of the verse." Mr. Garland repeated the other part of the verse as follows: "He that believeth not shall be damned." "Exactly," said Sterling. "That seems to teach that believing is the important thing. He does not say that a person is lost if he leaves out both believing and baptism, but simply if he leaves out believing, as if believing was the necessary thing for salvation. If baptism had been a necessary part of salvation, Christ would have said 'he that believeth not and is not baptized shall be damned'."