me Scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And as they
went on their way they came unto a certain water and the Eunuch said:
"See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Philip said:
"If thou believeth with all thy heart thou mayest." And he answered and
said: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." And he commanded
the chariot to stand still and they went down both into the water,
Philip and the Eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of
the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip that the Eunuch saw
him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing.'"

"You see they stepped down to the water's edge," said Sterling, "and
Philip sprinkled him."

"But it says they both went down into the water and both came up out of
the water. Why did they go down into the water if the Eunuch was simply
to be sprinkled?"

"Look here," said the father; "life is too brief to be squandering it on
debating a question like that. That's as plain as a chimney on a house.
You could never make me think that all that going down into the water
and coming up out of the water was simply to have a few drops of water
sprinkled on the man. Sterling, I know you don't mean to do so, but it
looks as if you are afraid of the natural meaning that lies on the
surface."

"But the surface meaning in the Bible is not always the true one. We
know from other passages that baptism was by sprinkling, and when we
come to one like this, that may mean either kind of baptism, we know
from the general teaching of Scripture that sprinkling and not immersion
was the mode here intended."

CHAPTER IV.

GETTING INTO DEEP WATER.

"Here is another passage about baptism," said Dorothy, "in Luke 12:50:
'I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it
be accomplished?'"

"But hold on, Miss Dorothy," said Sterling. "Why should we be spending
so much discussion simply on the question as to the quantity of water in
baptism? It seems a waste of effort. There are far more important
doctrines than this."

"It is not simply the quantity of water we are considering, Mr.
Sterling. We are trying to find out how baptism is performed. Surely we
ought to try to get it right."

"That's good logic," said the father. "Get one point settled before you
proceed to another."

"All right," said Sterling with a smile, "I'm all attention. Read that
passage again, Miss Dorothy."

She read: "'I have a baptism to be bap