en this promised baptism came to pass it
came not by immersion, but by pouring. Is that your claim?"

"You have it exactly correct."

"All right, and now for your proof."

"Ten days after Christ ascended to Heaven this baptism of the Spirit
came. The disciples were in an upper room and were waiting for this
baptism of the Spirit that had been promised, when suddenly the Holy
Spirit came. But how did it come and in what way were they baptized? It
was poured on them. Don't forget that. When the outsiders, bewildered at
the strange manifestation, asked what it meant, Peter stood up and
explained it by saying: 'This is that which was spoken by the prophet
Joel.' In other words, Peter said it was what Joel the prophet long ago
had prophesied would come to pass. And what did Joel say would happen?
Listen to Peter: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,
that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.'"

"Hello, daughter, he has the dots on you there. The verse declares for
pouring."

"Certainly," exclaimed Sterling. "He does not use the word immerse, but
says 'I will pour out of my Spirit'. That was the form that the baptism
took--pouring--and Peter was quoting the prophecy to explain the
baptism. And look here in the thirty-third verse; he continues in the
same strain by saying 'having received of the Father the promise of the
Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth, this which ye now see and hear."

"Let me see that passage," said Dorothy. She looked it over intently and
in a few moments said: "Mr. Sterling, notice the whole account. It
doesn't read as if the Spirit was poured on them as you would pour a
little water on a person in baptism. A previous verse reads: 'Suddenly
there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and it filled
all the house where they were sitting.' And in the fourth verse it
reads: 'And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.' Think of that,
Mr. Sterling. The Holy Spirit came not in a few drops by pouring, but
came so abundantly that it filled the house and they were all filled
with the Holy Spirit. I guess if you were to pour water on a person as
the Spirit came upon these persons the person would be drowned. The
disciples were surrounded by the Spirit, and that looks like immersion
rather than like pouring."

"But not too fast," said Sterling. "It does not say that the Holy Spirit
filled the house. It speaks of the wind, but it does not say even the
wind filled the h