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 Baptists generally disclaim being "close communionists," but "close baptists." That is, they insist that no person is eligible to partake of the Lord's Supper until after baptism _by immersion_; and that by a regularly ordained Baptist minister, upon the authority of a Baptist church, expressed by a vote of its members. I do not know that I ever saw the ordinance celebrated in a Baptist church, that some explanation along this line was not made, by way of apology. The event that so influenced my future thought was this: At a Baptist church, some six miles from my father's residence, their annual protracted meeting had been going on a week,--from Sunday to Sunday. Some eight or ten persons had joined the church during the week and were to be baptized at 10 A.M. on this last Sunday, after which was to follow the regular church services at 11 A.M.; and then the celebration of the Lord's Supper. A half mile away was a Methodist church, and the place of baptism was the ford of a creek about half way between the two.