"Doctor Vincent," said Dorothy, "it seems to me that the whole matter hinges on the question as to who was commanded in the Bible to be baptized. Does Christ say that all persons having the heavenly or child-like nature must be baptized? If so, why did he not baptize the little ones the day they were brought to him? It looks as if the disciples did not know anything about baptizing the little ones." "No, they seemed to know very little about Christ's attitude towards children." "Let me ask this question, Doctor," said Dorothy. "You spoke of the heavenly nature of the infant. When an infant is baptized and grows up, does the baptism cause the heavenly nature to stay with the child?" "Not necessarily." "What good, then, does the baptism do? Do you mean that a baptized infant might grow up to be a fearful villain?" "Yes, it is possible." "Well, do the baptized infants have a less tendency to sin than the unbaptized infants?" "No. I can't say that the baptism itself has any effect on the infant. Neither does it have any effect on the grown person that is baptized and disgraces his baptism received in later life." "But is there not this difference, that in the case of grown people you baptize only those who desire baptism, but in the case of infants you do not make such distinction?" "It seems to me," said the father, "that the important question is, who in the Bible are commanded to be baptized? Does the Bible say that infants must be baptized or not?" "No," replied the Doctor, "it does not say that." "Well, who are entitled to baptism?" "Let me get my concordance," said Dorothy, rising from her seat, "and look at the passages about baptism so as to see who are commanded to be baptized." She began with the aid of the concordance to pick out the passages having the word "baptize" in them. She read: "'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.'" "Hello!" said the father. "Who said that?" "Those are the words of Christ," said Doctor Vincent. "That looks as if a person had to believe before he could be baptized. But give us another one, daughter." "Here is one: 'When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women.'" "There it is again," exclaimed the father, "believing coming before baptizing." "And notice," said Dorothy, "it says they were baptized 'both men and women', but it does not say 'and children'. But here is another: 'See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And he said, if thou believest with all thy heart thou mayst be baptized.'" "There it is again," spoke up the father. "If he believed then he could be baptized. Evidently that writer considered believing essential to baptism."