"Well, I remember in a house where I was boarding while at college that a mother thought her little infant was about to die and she sent off immediately for the preacher to baptize her child, for she said she was afraid it would be lost if it died without baptism. Now, if that mother had that idea about baptism, why may not many others have the same idea about baptism?" "Since I come to think of it," admitted the Doctor, "I myself have had quite a number of excited mothers to ask me to baptize their sick infants because they were afraid for them to die without baptism; but they are the exceptions and of course their fears were entirely groundless. This is a Catholic doctrine. The Catholics teach, that baptism saves the infant, but we teach no such doctrine." "But is it not natural for the mother to get such an idea about baptism?" asked Dorothy. "They come to think that it keeps the child from being lost and the child, as it grows up, would get the idea from the mother that it was saved because of its baptism in infancy. If the mother thought the baptism saved her child, why would she not be apt to tell this to the child, and how awful it would be for a child when grown to think that it was saved when actually it was lost. Doctor Vincent, this doctrine seems to me to be a frightful one. It looks as if it might do a world of harm, and I cannot see where it does a particle of good; and besides, it is so different from that principle which father said just now was one of the characteristics of religion, and that is that religion must be a personal matter. Each soul must be accountable to God, and it is what I do and not what somebody else does for me for which I shall be held responsible." "My daughter," said the Doctor, "I have let the discussion run along for awhile in this fashion without mentioning the main feature and benefit of infant baptism. It is a dedicatory ceremony. The parent brings the child and offers or dedicates it in baptism to God; and not only that, never forget that the baptism does not stop with that." "With what?" asked Dorothy. "With the sprinkling of the water." "You say the baptism does not stop with the sprinkling of the water? What else, then, Doctor, is added?" "Why, the parent not only dedicates the child to God, but solemnly promises to watch over the child and to seek to train it up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." "Ought not every parent to do that?" asked Dorothy. "Exactly; that is what I am contending for, that every parent--I mean every believing parent; we could hardly expect an unbelieving parent to do so--every believing parent ought to dedicate in baptism his infant and to make the promise for its religious training." "Is it necessary to baptize the infant in order for the parent to make the promise?" asked Dorothy.