As the discussion proceeded, all recognized that he was an invincible defender of what he believed the Scriptures taught. His whole training had fitted him for such an arena. His liberal education, his extensive reading, his wonderful memory, his faultless diction, his remarkable self-control, sustained as they were by deep earnestness of purpose, gave him at once a vantage ground which he never relinquished. But such was the originality of his method in handling the truth and his freedom from the accepted terms of the theological schools that even the victory, which was universally admitted to be with him, was not accepted by many of the Baptists as an unmixed blessing. The opportunities and issues of the debate were such as to convince Mr. Campbell of its practical utility in disseminating the truth and he gave the following challenge in his concluding speech. I this day publish to all present that I feel disposed to meet any pedobaptist minister of any denomination, of good standing in his party, and I engage to prove in a debate with him, either orally or with the pen, that infant sprinkling is a human tradition and injurious to the well-being of society, religious and political. Such a challenge was well calculated to make a deep impression on all who heard it, and this was what he designed it to do. In the frankness of his independent spirit he, from that time forward, held himself in readiness to meet in public discussion any worthy champion who might rise in opposition to the truths he taught, or in defense of popular religious error. The effect of this discussion, however, was to aid Mr. Campbell’s growing reputation. His fame was widely extended by the publication of the debate, which was read by thousands, and began soon to produce results far beyond his fondest hopes. The printed debate circulated very widely among the Baptists, who felt that they had the best of the argument. While some Baptists “remained extremely dubious in regard to the orthodoxy of their champion,” others took grateful pride in him, and felt, as one Baptist declared, that “he had done more for the Baptists in the West than any other man.”