9. _Baptism_.--The churches are not agreed with regard to baptism as to what it is, how, and when it should be applied, and on whom it should be administered. Some hold to dipping, some to douching, and some to sprinkling, as the scripture mode of administering it. Which is right? Who can tell? I should prefer the dipping process. It would do something toward saving the body of the sinner from disease, if not the soul from hell, _if frequently applied_. He should be baptized once a week, if not once a day, with water and soap. We have now enumerated nearly all the leading doctrines of the Christian faith, and shown that the views of the churches, with respect to them, are about as different as day from night. The important query then arises, What progress have we made towards determining, by the Bible or by the churches, what we must do and believe in order to be saved? Why, about the same progress the boy had made toward reaching the schoolhouse, who, on being interrogated by the teacher as to the cause of his late appearance, replied, "Why, master, you see the road was so slippery, that, when I attempted to take one step forward, I slipped two steps backward."--"How did you manage to get here, then?" asked the teacher. "Why," replied Tom, "I turned round and went the other way." I would suggest that the churches try this policy of turning round, and going the other way. My conviction is they would find the true road to salvation much sooner, and be better prepared to settle the question as to what they should do and believe in order to be saved. It is a question, however, they never can settle. The Bible is a very old book; and, the farther we get away from the age in which it was written, the more difficult it will become to understand it: for human language, and even human thought and the meaning of words, are constantly changing. These circumstances will constantly augment the difficulty of ever understanding any old Bible, or of determining what it teaches or designed to teach with respect to an important doctrine. 10. _The Number of Hells_.--When the disciple of the Christian faith talks of a hell in the presence of a Hindoo, he tells him he don't know any thing about the matter: that there are no less than three institutions of this kind. But here the Mahomedan rises up, and says, "You, too, are totally ignorant on the subject; for there are no less than seven institutions of this character. One of them is set apart for Christians who believe in the divinity and atonement of Christ." Lieut. Lynch, of the United-States navy, says that a Mahomedan told him, "No man or woman can be saved who believes that God was born of a woman, and then became a malefactor to a human tribunal; for the doctrine is blasphemous." Which of all these opinions is right? Who can tell?