you," said the father. "Now the contest is getting spicy. Show
that immersion was impossible and you have won the day."

"Father, you speak as if Mr. Sterling and I were engaged in a battle. My
only desire is to learn what the Bible teaches about baptism, and I
shall certainly follow its command as nearly as I can, cost what it
may. Why do you say immersion was impossible, Mr. Sterling?"

"Because in the account of the baptisms on the day of Pentecost we are
told that three thousand persons were baptized and that of course could
not have been done by immersion in one day."

"Were they all baptized in one place?" asked Dorothy.

"Yes, all were baptized at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost after a
great sermon by the Apostle Peter."

"How many persons did the baptizing?" asked Dorothy, as if she was
trying to picture the scene.

"That is not stated."

"Let us have the passage, Sterling. My curiosity is excited," said Mr.
Page.

Sterling read from Acts 2:41: "Then they that gladly received his Word
were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three
thousand souls."

Dorothy read the verse over carefully and then remarked: "Why, that
doesn't say they were all baptized on the same day. Notice it says there
were added to them on the same day about three thousand. Why may not
some of the number have been baptized before that and during Christ's
life?"

"That is a fact," said the father, looking over the passage. "The verse
does not say that they were all baptized that day; but do you suppose,
Sterling, that it would have taken a great deal longer to immerse them
than it would to have sprinkled them? Not if the sprinkling ceremony
that I saw was a sample of the way the three thousand were baptized. Do
you not have a ceremony connected with sprinkling just as they have one
connected with immersion?"

"Oh, yes, there is always a little ceremony connected with the
sprinkling."

"Who did the baptizing that day?" asked Dorothy.

"Good for you, daughter," said the father. "That is a stunner. One man
would have had quite a job on his hands whether he sprinkled or dipped
that host of folks. But with several baptizers it was a different
proposition."

"Oh, father, why do you speak so jokingly about these Bible matters?"

"You are right, Dorothy. Forgive me. I always make a muss of it when I
tackle religion. I'd better call in my tongue before I get into
trouble."

"I repeat my question," said Do