“‘In this church, the body which derives life, strength and salvation from Christ its head, baptism was instituted as the sacred rite of admission. In this regenerating ordinance, fallen man is born again from a state of condemnation to a state of grace. He obtains a title to the presence of the Holy Spirit, to the forgiveness of sins, to all those precious and unmerited favors which the blood of Christ purchased. Wherever the gospel is promulgated the only mode through which we can obtain a title to those blessings and privileges which Christ has purchased for his mystical body, the church, is the sacrament of baptism. Repentance, faith and obedience will not, of themselves, be effectual to our salvation. We may sincerely repent of our sins, heartily believe the gospel; we may walk in the paths of holy obedience, but until we enter into covenant with God by baptism and ratify our vows of allegiance and duty at the holy sacrament of the supper; commemorate the mysterious sacrifice of Christ, we cannot assert any claim to salvation.’ “Every man of common sense will reject such a statement as false, no matter who made it. It is the teaching of priests to clothe their performance with power and mystery. It is utterly opposed to the plain statements of the Bible and contrary to what any true man must believe of the character of God. I would rather accept the sentiment of the poet: “Leave polemic folios in their dust, But this point hold, howe’er each sect may brawl, When pure the life, when free the heart from gall What e’er the creed, Heaven looks with love on all.” “As to the communion. This was a ceremony observed among the heathen long before Jesus was born, signifying friendship and a devotion to each other’s interests, and it is observed even now by the wildest tribes of men as a sign or proof of kindness and friendship. Among some people it is customary at their funerals for a cup of wine to be passed, and each one present to take a sip in memory of the dead. At first it was only a simple custom, a rite in memory of friendship, but how it has been transformed and degraded! At a Roman Council, Berengar, who had denied transubstantiation, was compelled to swear that ‘the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not only sensibly in the sacrament, but in truth are handled in the hands of the priest, and broken and crushed by the teeth of the faithful.’ “What can be more sacrilegious and disgusting than such a doctrine? Is it strange that thinking men become infidels when such stuff is forced upon them? or that a Muhamedan sage remarked: ‘So long as Christians worship what they eat, let my soul dwell with the philosophers.’