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Ebook has 165 lines and 5292 words, and 4 pages

She was anxious to tell her parents the simple story of Christ's love and sacrifice for sinners. She recited it almost immediately after her return, but their eyes seemed holden that they could not see. Possibly they did not want to see. At any rate, Dorothy received her first biting disappointment in the reception that her parents gave to her report about her new-found Savior.

With Mr. Sterling it was different, and in him she found a sympathetic listener to her story. Not that she impulsively bared her secrets to him; he was eager to know it all, and his keen interest in contrast to the utter lack of responsiveness on the part of the parents encouraged her to confide in him, and to Dorothy, with her new and trembling faith, Sterling was a friend in need.

A week had passed after her return, and one afternoon Sterling said to her at the close of a tennis game that her coming into his church would make their membership exactly 300.

"Mr. Sterling," she replied, "I am anxious to talk with your pastor, Dr. Vincent, about which church I ought to join."

Her words smote him. The possibility of her uniting with any other church than his own had not occurred to him, and the bare thought of it put a load on his heart. He asked her what she meant by her remark regarding Dr. Vincent.

"Dear old Dr. Moreland," she said, "whose church I attended in Chicago, and who so kindly led me into the light, told me that I must be sure to join some church, and when I asked him what church it should be he told me that I must study my New Testament and let that guide me. I have carefully read it through twice, and I cannot see that it has helped me at all to decide about my church membership. I really do not know what he meant."

Sterling was relieved and the load rolled off his heart, for he felt sure that with her New Testament as her guide she would turn her steps towards the Presbyterian church.

"What's the need, sister, of your joining any church? You don't think the church will take you to Heaven, do you?"

"Hold on, son," spoke up the father, "I am not an expert on religious matters, but it is a plain proposition to me that if Dorothy has accepted Christianity and become a Christian, the place for her is the church."

"But what good will it do, father?"

"I believe in a person being one thing or the other," said Mr. Page. "If you are not a Christian, then of course keep out of the church; if you set up to be a Christian, then take your medicine; if you claim to be a soldier, then march up and put on the uniform and join the army."

"Oh, I never thought of not joining a church," said Dorothy.

"But I still hang to my point," said the brother. "Why does Dorothy have to join the church? Do you think, sister, joining the church will save you?"

"What a question, brother! Of course not. I hope I am saved already. I have faith in Christ and I am looking to him for my salvation. Simply having my name entered as a church member will not save me; I am very ignorant about these matters, but Dr. Moreland told me that Christ founded the church as the place in which he wished all who believed in him to be gathered. If he formed the church for his believers, then is it not the place for me?"

"Daughter, you are right there to a dot. If Christ organized the church for his followers and you have given yourself to him, then if you should refuse to enter the church I should doubt whether you had given yourself to him; but I think you are wrong on one point. You spoke just now about studying the Bible to learn what church you ought to join. That's one on me. I never knew the Bible told a person what church he ought to join; in fact, I did not think it made any difference what church or denomination a person selected. I thought it was just pay your money and take your choice."

"I thought," said the mother, "that all the churches were aiming in the same direction and that all claimed to be founded on the Bible. Do you think, daughter, that the Bible will tell you to join one particular church or denomination rather than some other?"

"Mother, you are right there, as you generally are," said the father. "Here is the Presbyterian church, the only strong church in town, and it seems to be a mighty good one from all that I can hear of it. Do you imagine, daughter, that you must study the Bible to learn whether it will tell you to join this church or some other church that may be off somewhere nobody knows where?"

Dorothy seemed lost in reflection.

"I wonder what Dr. Moreland could have meant?" she said. "I notice there are different names by which the churches are known: for example, the Presbyterians, the Methodists, etc. They call them, I believe, denominations. Are these denominations the same? Why do they have the different names, and why do some people join one denomination and some another?"

"That is not strange, daughter," spoke up the father. "There are different kinds of dresses, and one woman prefers one kind and another another. Some people like the Presbyterian church, some the Methodist church and so on. It is not a Bible question, simply a question of taste."

"Miss Dorothy, the denominations differ in matters of doctrine," said Mr. Sterling.

"You mean, then," said Dorothy, a light coming into her eye, "that the people who believe that the Bible teaches certain doctrines go into one church, and the people who believe that it teaches another set of doctrines go into another church, and that each one joins the church of his own beliefs?"

"You are entirely correct," said Sterling, confident that when she compared the denominations his church would win the day. "The Presbyterian church is founded on the bed rock of Scripture and draws its life blood from its sacred pages."

"Do you not see, father," said Dorothy, "that in order for me to decide which church I ought to join I must study the Bible for myself and then join the church that seems to come nearest to what the Bible seems to me to teach?"

"I don't agree with you, sister," said Roland. "You say you must join the church that comes nearest to what the Bible seems to you to teach. But you know very little about what the Bible teaches. Had you not better take what old Dr. Vincent, who has been a life-long student of the Bible, says the Bible teaches than to take what you, after a few readings, decide it teaches? Why, certainly. I'd rather a thousand times trust him to tell me what that Book teaches than for me to decide myself."

"But, brother, I think you miss the point. Dr. Vincent can tell me what he thinks the Bible teaches, but some learned minister in another denomination might tell me the Bible taught something different. Mr. Sterling says each denomination has its own doctrines which it believes the Bible teaches. If I am going to take what some learned Bible student says, then which one must I follow? One will tell me that the Bible teaches the Presbyterian doctrines and another will tell me it teaches the Methodist doctrines."

"Exactly; and no matter what you do you cannot be sure you are right. I think one is about as apt to be right as the other. The only thing is to take a man that you believe is an honest and wise student of the Book and ask him to tell you its teachings."

"Oh, brother, that doesn't appeal to me at all. I dare not take another person's word for what this Bible teaches. I can take his counsel and the counsel of everybody else that I can secure, but I must give the final decision, I must study this Book for myself. Dr. Vincent is a good and wise man, of course, but I cannot look into his heart for all the thoughts that have led him to his decision. The question before me is not what church does Mr. Vincent think comes nearest the Bible, but what church do I think comes the nearest."

"Daughter," said Mr. Page, "you are on the right track. You can get all the light possible from Dr. Vincent and anybody else you choose, but you are the judge that must bring in the verdict, and when you make the decision there is no court of appeals. But you have a huge job on your hands. You must first study all the denominations and then you've got to master your Bible to see which one of all the denominations squares with the Book."

"Oh," said Dorothy in a tone of despair, "how can I ever decide such a big question? Won't you help me, Mr. Sterling?"

Sterling felt that he would like to spend several centuries, beginning with that very second, in the single matter of helping her. He remarked with a smile: "Miss Dorothy, I think you need not be alarmed; you are not as much in the wilderness as you imagine. Suppose on examination you find that the doctrines of our church are in accord with the teachings of the Bible, then your duty is plain, is it not?"

"Yes," she replied with a sigh of relief, "and won't you tell me what are the doctrines of your church?"

His eyes answered her request before his lips had an opportunity to respond.

"Now you are getting out into the road," said the father. "Tell it to her, Friend Sterling, and I guess she will find that your church plumbs the track. In fact, I reckon most of them do."

"Dinner is ready," called the mother.

"There, now," said the father, "that breaks up the meeting at the critical point, but come in to dinner, Sterling, and we will open the campaign again after dinner."

"Yes, please do come, Mr. Sterling," said Dorothy. "I am so anxious to know what are the doctrines of your church."

Sterling was compelled to decline, inasmuch as he had promised to be at home for dinner to meet a business friend of his father's, but he assured them that he would be on hand for the discussion very soon after dinner.

STERLING STATES HIS CASE.

At eight o'clock they gathered in the library.

"Now, Sterling," said Mr. Page, "we are all attention. Open up your Presbyterian treasures, for you have our curiosity aroused."

Sterling was anxious to bring to Dorothy's attention the facts about his denomination. He felt confident that the history and doctrines of Presbyterianism would prove very attractive to her and lead her into his church.

"I fear I cannot do my denomination justice," he said. "It deserves an abler champion. It has had an illustrious history and on our honor roll are such notable names as John Calvin, John Knox, Thomas Chalmers and a host of others."

"What are the doctrines of your church, Mr. Sterling?" asked Dorothy.

"We believe in God as the creator and preserver of the world, in Christ as the Savior of sinners, and in the Bible as the Word of God."

"How about those doctrines, daughter?" asked Mr. Page. "Can you accept them?"

"Of course, father. The Bible teaches them plainly."

"Good! Give us some more, Sterling."

"We believe that Christ offered himself on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of men, that he was buried, rose from the dead and ascended to Heaven, where he sits at the right hand of the Father. We believe in the Holy Spirit as being sent by the Father to convict men of sin and righteousness and judgment to come."

"What about that, daughter?"

"Father is pinning me down, Mr. Sterling, as we go along," she said with a smile. "I think I can accept those doctrines because the New Testament teaches them--at least that is my recollection from my reading of the New Testament."

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