This is the very language of all opinionists. He goes on to refer to the doctrine of the trinity as an opinion, though trinitarians insist that it is a fact of Scripture. It is impressive that while Stone was an avowed immersionist, noting on one occasion that there was not one in 500 among his churches that was not immersed, he nonetheless admitted that it was an opinion and should not therefore be made a test of fellowship. While Stone does not say it in so many words, he seems to understand an opinion to be a viewpoint held on a matter that honest, intelligent people may see differently. There are many incontrovertible facts in Scripture.
Baptism is one, for it is universally agreed that baptism was a practice of the early church.
It is the exact mode and design that are questioned. Christ himself is an absolute fact of Scripture, but the nature of Christ is a matter of opinion. A fact is what is actually said or done. An opinion is what the fact or the thing done is made to mean. But we do not agree on what he meant by it.