and began his diatribe.

"Verse 4 means water baptism," he said, "and if a man is not baptized
he cannot be saved. We go down into the water a sinner, and come up
a Christian. Some of you people have never been baptized, and yet you
claim to be saved.

"Now, last prayer meeting night, I promised to find that old familiar
text, 'He that saith he liveth and sinneth not is a liar and the truth
is not in him,' but I have not found it yet. But I will find it, mind
you. Moreover, I have some texts that prove my contention that no one
can live free from sin while in this life.

"Prov. 20:9: 'Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from
my sin?' This text can mean only one thing, which is that no one can
be clean from sin.

"Matt. 19:16, 17, 'There is none good but one, that
is God.' Now, how can any man call himself good in the face of this
scripture?

"Read Rom. 3:10: 'As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not
one.' No, not one! Do you hear it? No, not one!" Peter shouted.

"And Paul said that 'Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners;
of whom I am chief' (1 Tim. 1:15). And if Paul was the chief of
sinners, do we think we can live free from sin? No, sir! we can not.
And in Romans 7 he declared that he was carnal, sold under sin (Rom.
7:14). I tell you we cannot live better than Paul did. But I am a
Christian, for I was baptized fifty years ago in the Big Sandy river,