"Take down your flag, gentlemen," exclaimed the father impulsively. "Your guns are silenced. The jailer believed in God with 'all his house'. Well, I guess that means that all his house believed with him, and they must have been very sprightly infants and quite overgrown to have joined their father in that believing." "It says they all rejoiced also," said Dorothy. "And look at the verse preceding: 'And they spake the Word of the Lord to all that were in the house.' That came before they were all baptized. They 'spake the Word to all'. Notice the 'all', to all that were in the house. I guess that 'all' that were in the house must have been old enough to understand his preaching if he spoke the Word to all of them. Doctor," she asked, "do you think you can find an infant in that attentive, believing, rejoicing household?" "Read us about another household baptism," as she noted that the Doctor seemed to be closing the Bible. "This completes the list of household baptisms. I think they are sufficient." "But, Doctor, not one of these households are said to have had children in them, and if they did have children the children must have been old enough to believe, because it is stated in the case of every one of them that those that were baptized believed or received the word that was spoken. They were all old enough to hear, to understand and to believe the Word." "From all the passages which I have heard in these discussions," said the father, "one thing seems to stand out very plainly about baptism, and that is that in the Bible times faith had to come before baptism." "If this is so," said Dorothy, "then infant baptism is unscriptural, because it is a baptism without faith. Infants can not exercise faith." "Daughter," said the Doctor, "you are mistaken. I can show you that in the case of every infant baptism there is always a faith that precedes the baptism." "What do you mean, Doctor?" asked Dorothy in great perplexity. At this moment the telephone bell rang and Dorothy was called to speak to a girl friend, who extended to her an invitation for a carriage ride on the next afternoon. In a few moments the conversation was resumed. CHAPTER VIII. WRONGING THE LITTLE ONES. "Doctor Vincent," said Dorothy on her return to the room, "you were saying that the baptism of an infant is always preceded by faith. How can that be? Can an infant exercise faith?" "Not the infant, but the father or mother." "Oh, you mean it is the parent that has faith! And do you baptize an infant because the parent has faith?" "Yes. Either the parent or the god-parent must have faith." "The god-parent!" exclaimed Dorothy in a puzzled tone. "What is a god-parent?" "If the child has not a parent, then some Christian man or woman believes for the child and is thus called its god-father or god-mother." "And so the infant, in order to have baptism, must have some person to believe for it?" "Yes, my daughter, you catch the idea exactly."