The balance of the year at Waukesha was given to the ordinary demands of the work.  To the Church there had been large accessions and to the Parsonage a welcome guest, in the person of our eldest daughter.

The Wisconsin Conference for 1849 was held at Platteville.  I crossed the State in a buggy and was assigned to Father Mitchell’s for entertainment.  To enjoy the hospitality of this truly Christian gentleman and veteran patriarch for a week was a privilege that would mark an era at any time in a man’s life.  At this Conference I was ordained an Elder by Bishop Janes, and received my appointment for a second year at Waukesha.  Rev. Elihu Springer was returned to Milwaukee District for the third year.

At my first Quarterly Meeting the Elder insisted on a reconstruction of my work, in which he was joined by the Local Preachers and several other brethren of the charge.  The noon-day sermon was dispensed with and the Sabbath afternoon appointments were given mainly to the care of the Local Preachers.  These were William Carpenter, Hiram Crane, and Miles L. Reed, a trio of noble and devoted men.

Assisted by these faithful men and a united and earnest church, the work grew upon our hands, and this second year was also blessed with a precious revival.  It was in connection with this revival and the garnering of the converts that the controversy arose between us and the Baptist friends on the subject of baptism.  As many of our converts had not enjoyed favorable opportunities to become informed on this subject, the Pastor was desired by formal request to preach a sermon on the mode of baptism.  This was done, and soon after the official board requested a copy for publication.  The writer, supposing it was merely intended to secure a few copies through the columns of the village newspaper for convenient reference, hastily furnished the discourse.  Instead, however, of procuring a few slips only, it was published in pamphlet and given a more extensive circulation.  In due time it was taken up by the Pastor of the Baptist Church and reviewed at length in his pulpit.  On the following Sabbath the reviewer was himself reviewed, and here ended the controversy.  It is a question whether such controversies are really beneficial.  They usually engender strife and party feeling, and not unfrequently alienate the servants of our common Master.  But that such was not the case in this instance is pretty evident from the fact that at the session of our Conference in Waukesha the following year, the writer was requested to fill on the Sabbath the pulpit of his former antagonist.