R. H. Miller, the greatest debater that the Church of the Brethren has ever produced.

It has already been shown that Brother Robert was a debater from his boyhood days; and it was no unnatural thing that he should fall into this kind of work as soon as he began to uphold the principles of the church. His first religious debate was held near Greencastle, Indiana, in the spring of 1861, with Nathan Wright, a minister of the Disciple church. This early debate left its impression on the minds of the people, who still remember Brother Robert with the kindest of feelings.

His second debate was a greater task. It was held in February, 1869, in Howard County, Ind., with Elder B. M. Blount, a Disciple minister. Forty years afterward Elder Blount gives the following acount of the origin of the debate: "The way the discussion came about, was that while I was preaching in that community I had preached a discourse on the subject of feet-washing. This created some comment in the neighborhood. Afterward Brother Miller preached several discourses in the same community and our brethren thought he did not properly represent our views. Hence he was asked if he would debate these differences; on replying in the affirmative, the matter was submitted to me. A correspondence followed ultimating in the wordy battle."

The debate lasted five days, and the following propositions were discussed, of which the first three were affirmed by Brother Robert and the last one by Elder Blount;

1. Scriptures teach that to dip a penitent believer

in water three times, face forward, is scriptural and valid baptism.

2. The Scriptures teach that feet-washing is an ordinance to be observed in the church.

3. The Scriptures teach the salutation of the holy kiss is to be observed as it is done by the Brethren, commonly called Dunkards.

4. The Scriptures teach that the bread and wine, taken in communion, at any hour of the day, on the first day of the week only, is the Lord's Supper.

Elder Blount further characterizes Brother Robert as a debater: "Robert Miller was a pleasant man to debate with. Sometimes he would indulge in personalities, but it may be he had reasons for it. I have no doubt that he was a sincere and honest man although, as I think, very much mistaken on the propositions discussed."

In March, 1872, Brother Robert held a debate with Elder Jewell, of the Disciple church, in Hamilton County, Ind. It lasted five days, and all the questions pertaining to the differences between the Brethren and the Disciples were discussed. A little incident occurred during this debate that showed Brother Robert's good memory. Elder Jewell read a passage from a history of baptism. Brother Robert claimed he did not read it all, and desired Elder Jewell to give him the book. The former refused, whereupon Brother Robert quoted at length from memory from the same work, not only what Elder Jewell had read but what he had not read. The next day after this debate closed there were four accessions to the Stony Branch church, and a number shortly after.

The next year he went to Southern Illinois to engage in a debate. What his experience was there is told by Elder J. H. Moore, to whom Brother Robert related the whole affair:

"As a debater, he had some unique experiences. About 1873 the Brethren secured his services for a dis-. cussion in a town some distance from the railroad. His reputation as an able preacher and a fine debater had gone before him, so on the day for his arrival at the railroad station, where one of the brethren was to meet him and convey him to the place of discussion, a number of boys from the town made it a point to be at the depot in time to get a first glimpse of the famous preacher. Brother Miller was naturally a fine looking man. When he alighted from the train and was greeted by the brother who came to meet him the boys scrutinized him with intense interest. In all their experiences they had never seen such a fine and intelligent looking man.

"A large trunk was unloaded from the train and taken possession of by Bro. Miller and the brother who had come to meet him. The trunk put the boys to surmising, and they soon decided that it was full of books. So, without waiting for further developments, they mounted their horses and returned to their town in all possible haste, and told everybody they met that they had seen the great debater, that he was a fine looking man, that he had a big trunk full of books, and was reading Greek, Hebrew and Latin all the time. Before Brother Miller reached the town, everybody knew of his coming, the boys had spread the news everywhere and the excitement was simply intense.

"The stir made by the boys so affected public sentiment and the man Brother Miller was to have met in debate, that the discussion actually fell through with and never came off. His opponent could not be induced to accept clearly-defined propositions, and so there was no debate. Brother Miller used to tell in an amusing way, how the boys in Southern Illinois spoiled a debate for him."

His next debate was near North Manchester, Ind., with William S. Manville, a minister of the Christian (Newlite) church. It began February 17, 1875, and lasted for nine days. In all, ten propositions were discussed, the most important of which was the following which Brother Robert affirmed: "Do the Scriptures teach the doctrine of the trinity, three persons or didivine powers?" Intense interest was manifested in the long discussion. All reports show that the experience was pleasant. During the debate three persons were baptized by the Brethren.

In June of the same year he was called to Gogginsville, Va., to discuss the question of baptism by immersion with Daniel Hodges, a Methodist minister. The debate had its origin in a written discussion on this subject through the county paper, between Rev. Hodges and Elder John Lemon of the Church of the Brethren. The discussion became so warm that a public debate was sought, and Brother Robert was secured to defend our principles. The debate lasted three days and it is said to have been attended by a thousand people. In the afternoon of the last day a large crowd convened at the water to witness Brother Robert baptize a man known throughout the country

as Jack Peters, who had been converted during the debate.

A local paper, the Virginia Monitor, characterized Brother Robert as follows: "The Rev. Mr. Miller is about 49 years old, of medium size and has a pleasant and intelligent appearance. He is a clear reasoner and evidently a practical debater." The late Dr. C. H. Balsbaugh gives his impression as follows: "In reading the speeches of these disputants I was frequently reminded of the famous debate between Lincoln and Douglas. On the one side, sobriety and confidence of truth; on the other, adroitness, evasions, circumlocutions and the ipse dixit of a sinking cause. The discussion cannot fail to bring into contempt with genuous inquirers, the practice of sprinkling and pouring. Brother Miller's arguments are direct, consistent, conclusive."

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In a private letter to Brother Robert, Dr. Balsbaugh reproved him somewhat for an expression that savored of boasting. The former replied to the charge in the following letter: "I admit your criticism to be correct, that without doing violence to the language referred to it may be construed into self laudation, though that was not the object, for I think there is nothing of that in my nature. It was the offshoot of my combative nature, the outcropping of that retaliative spirit of which I have a little too much to keep always in subjection when the provocation is so often repeated as was done by Mr. Hodges. During the discussion he frequently alluded to trine immersion in a sarcastic manner while it had no connection with the proposition; so I loosed the lion of combativeness to