ou cannot fellowship those
who do not interpret the Bible as you do?"

"Doctor, I do not say I could not fellowship the Presbyterians, or
anybody that may understand his Bible differently from me. I can respect
them and believe them to be better Christians than I am. But I don't
think I ought to join their church unless I believe their doctrines."

"Well, my daughter, you will never find a church with every member
believing just as you believe."

"What does a denomination mean, anyhow, Doctor? Does it not mean a body
of people believing a certain set of doctrines?"

"Yes."

"It seems to me to be somewhat after this fashion. I guess I have no
right with my small knowledge about these things to be theorizing, and
yet is it not this way? Here in the world we find a multitude of
Christians. As they read the Bible some understand it one way and others
understand it another way, and still others another way, and those
therefore who understand it one way get together in one great company
and those understanding it another way get together in another great
company and so on, and these large groups are the different
denominations, and this simply means that people believing alike
naturally come together and fall into line under one name."

"Why, yes; that certainly sounds sensible, daughter," said Mr. Page. "I
guess that those people who believe as Mr. Walton believes about baptism
and other matters are called by the name Baptists, and that those who
believe the doctrines that Dr. Boardman believes call themselves
Presbyterians. Now of course you would not respect a person believing as
the Baptists do and joining the Presbyterians. He is not a Presbyterian
in belief and he ought not to call himself such nor be known as such."

"Doctor," asked Dorothy, "would you want a person to join your church if
he would not accept the doctrine of your church?"

"Since I come to think of it, my fair questioner, I don't think we would
take in such a person. If you cannot accept the teachings of the
Presbyterian church, then probably you ought not to join, though I
confess I am not as strict as some of my brethren. If a person is with
us in the fundamentals, then we can overlook such minor matters as
baptism and the like. I think the trouble with the Christian world
today is that we are magnifying the non-essentials and neglecting the
weightier truths."

"You say baptism is a minor matter?" asked Dorothy with some surprise.

"Why, c