'Jerusalem a rocky, well-enclosed fortress;
within, well watered; without, wholly dry'."

"Now you are making discoveries, son," said Mr. Page. "Give us some more
about the water."

"Here is another statement. Dr. Robinson states there were six immense
public pools in the city, the largest being five hundred and ninety-two
feet long and two hundred and seventy-five feet broad."

"That is enough, son," exclaimed the father. "Sterling, history seems on
the side of the immersionists there. I think that five hundred and
ninety-two foot pool could have taken care of the whole three thousand."

"I think the important question," said the brother, "is the meaning of
the Greek word originally used for baptism. In other words, does the
word baptize mean to sprinkle or to immerse? When the people in Christ's
day used the word, what did they mean by it--sprinkle or immerse?"

"That hits the target exactly," said the father. "What does the word
baptize mean? Let's see, I think you said that the Bible was written in
Greek."

"The New Testament was," said Sterling.

"The question is, then, what word did the people use in Christ's day in
talking about a baptism? When Christ told the people to be baptized,
what word did he use and what did that word mean? Did the Greek word
which he used for baptism mean for the people in that day 'immerse' or
'sprinkle'? When they heard the word from him, did they think of
immersion or of sprinkling?"

"'_Baptizo_', or baptize, is the word which he used," said Sterling.

"But baptize is our English word that we use. What was the Greek word
which Christ used and which meant baptism?" asked Roland.

"That is the point," said Sterling. "'_Baptizo_' is the Greek word, and
the people who translated our English from the Greek Bible did not
translate the Greek word '_baptizo_' into any English word, but simply
put the Greek word '_baptizo_' or baptize into our language as it was
without translating it. You see, if they had translated it 'immerse',
that would have made the Presbyterians mad, and if they had translated
it 'sprinkle' that would have made others mad, and so they did not
translate it at all, but simply put the Greek word '_baptizo_' in the
English Bible, leaving each person to translate it as he thought
proper."

"But why did they not translate it?" said Dorothy, as if vexed by their
neglect. "It must mean something, and if they translated the other
words, why did they not translate t