Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 90

Baptism was practiced by the ascetics of Buddhist origin, known as the _Essenes_.[320:6] John the Baptist was, evidently, nothing more than a member of this order, with which the deserts of Syria and the Thebais of Egypt abounded.

The idea that man is restrained from perfect union with G.o.d by his imperfection, uncleanness and sin, was implicitly believed by the ancient _Greeks_ and _Romans_. In Thessaly was yearly celebrated a great festival of cleansing. A work bearing the name of "_Museus_" was a complete ritual of purifications. The usual mode of purification was dipping in water (immersion), or it was performed by aspersion. These sacraments were held to have virtue independent of the dispositions of the candidates, an opinion which called forth the sneer of Diogenes, the Grecian historian, when he saw some one undergoing baptism by aspersion.

"Poor wretch! do you not see that since these sprinklings cannot repair your grammatical errors, they cannot repair either, the faults of your life."[321:1]

And the belief that water could wash out the stains of original sin, led the poet _Ovid_ (43 B. C.) to say:

"Ah, easy fools, to think that a whole flood Of water e'er can purge the stain of blood."

These ancient Pagans had especial G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses who presided over the birth of children. The G.o.ddess _Nundina_ took her name from the ninth day, _on which all male children were sprinkled with holy water_,[321:2] as females were on the eighth, at the same time receiving their name, of which _addition_ to the ceremonial of Christian baptism we find no mention in the Christian Scriptures. When all the forms of the Pagan nundination were duly complied with, the priest gave a certificate to the parents of the regenerated infant; it was, therefore, duly recognized as a legitimate member of the family and of society, and the day was spent in feasting and hilarity.[321:3]

Adults were also baptized; and those who were initiated in the sacred rites of the _Bacchic_ mysteries were regenerated and admitted by baptism, just as they were admitted into the mysteries of Mithra.[321:4]

Justin Martyr, like his brother Tertullian, claimed that this ablution was invented by demons, in imitation of the _true_ baptism, that their votaries might also have their pretended purification by water.[321:5]

Infant Baptism was practiced among the ancient inhabitants of northern Europe--the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders--long before the first dawn of Christianity had reached those parts. Water was poured on the head of the new-born child, and a name was given it at the same time. Baptism is expressly mentioned in the _Hava-mal_ and _Rigs-mal_, and alluded to in other epic poems.[322:1]

The ancient _Livonians_ (inhabitants of the three modern Baltic provinces of Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia), observed the same ceremony; which also prevailed among the ancient _Germans_. This is expressly stated in a letter which the famous Pope Gregory III. sent to their apostle Boniface, directing him how to act in respect to it.[322:2]

The same ceremony was performed by the ancient Druids of Britain.[322:3]

Among the _New Zealanders_ young children were baptized. After the ceremony of baptism had taken place, prayers were offered to make the child sacred, and clean from all impurities.[322:4]

The ancient _Mexicans_ baptized their children shortly after birth.

After the relatives had a.s.sembled in the court of the parents' house, the midwife placed the child's head to the east, and prayed for a blessing from the _Saviour_ Quetzalcoatle, and the G.o.ddess of the water.

The breast of the child was then touched with the fingers dipped in water, and the following prayer said:

"May it (the water) destroy and separate from thee all the evil that was beginning in thee before the beginning of the world."

After this the child's body was washed with water, and all things that might injure him were requested to depart from him, "that now he may live again and be born again."[322:5]

Mr. Prescott alludes to it as follows, in his "Conquest of Mexico:"[322:6]

"The lips and bosom of the infant were sprinkled with water, and the Lord was implored to permit the holy drops to wash away that sin that was given to it before the foundation of the world, so that the child might be born anew." "This interesting rite, usually solemnized with great formality, in the presence of a.s.sembled friends and relations, is detailed with minuteness by Sahagun and by Zuazo, both of them eyewitnesses."

Rev. J. P. Lundy says:

"Now, as baptism of some kind has been the _universal custom_ of all religious nations and peoples for purification and regeneration, it is not to be wondered at that it had found its way from high Asia, the centre of the Old World's religion and civilization, into the American continent. . . .

"American priests were found in Mexico, beyond Darien, baptizing boys and girls a year old in the temples at the cross, pouring the water upon them from a small pitcher."[323:1]

The water which they used was called the "WATER OF REGENERATION."[323:2]

The Rev. Father Acosta alludes to this baptism by saying:

"The Indians had an infinite number of other ceremonies and customs which resembled to the ancient law of Moses, and some to those which the Moores use, and some approaching near to the Law of the Gospel, as the baths or _Opacuna_, as they called them; _they did wash themselves in water to cleanse themselves from sin_."[323:3]

After speaking of "_confession which the Indians used_," he says:

"When the Inca had been confessed, he made a certain bath to cleanse himself, in a running river, saying these words: '_I have told my sins to the Sun_ (his G.o.d); _receive them, O thou River, and carry them to the Sea, where they may never appear more._'"[323:4]

He tells us that the Mexicans also had a baptism for infants, which they performed with great ceremony.[323:5]

Baptism was also practiced in Yucatan. They administered it to children three years old; and called it REGENERATION.[323:6]

The ancient Peruvians also baptized their children.[323:7]

History, then, records the fact that all the princ.i.p.al nations of antiquity administered the rite of baptism to their children, and to adults who were initiated into the sacred mysteries. The words "_regenerationem et impunitatem perjuriorum suorum_"--used by the heathen in this ceremony--prove that the doctrines as well as the outward forms were the same. The giving of a name to the child, the marking of him with the _cross_ as a sign of his being a soldier of Christ, followed at fifteen years of age by his admission into the mysteries of the ceremony of _confirmation_, also prove that the two inst.i.tutions are identical. But the most striking feature of all is the _regeneration_--and consequent forgiveness of sins--the being "_born again_." This shows that the Christian baptism in _doctrine_ as well as in _outward ceremony_, was precisely that of the heathen. We have seen that it was supposed to destroy all the evil in him, and all things that might injure him were requested to depart from him. So likewise among the Christians; the priest, looking upon the child, and baptizing him, was formerly accustomed to say:

"I command thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that thou come out and depart from this infant, whom our Lord Jesus Christ has vouchsafed to call to this holy baptism, to be made member of his body and of his holy congregation. And presume not hereafter to exercise any tyranny towards this infant, whom Christ hath bought with his precious blood, and by this holy baptism called to be of his flock."

The ancients also baptized with _fire_ as well as water. This is what is alluded to many times in the gospels; for instance, Matt. (iii. 11) makes John say, "I, indeed, baptize you with water; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with FIRE."

The baptism by _fire_ was in use by the Romans; it was performed by jumping _three times_ through the flames of a sacred fire. This is still practiced in India. Even at the present day, in some parts of Scotland, it is a custom at the baptism of children to swing them in their clothes over a fire _three times_, saying, "_Now, fire, burn this child, or never._" Here is evidently a relic of the heathen _baptism by fire_.

Christian baptism was not originally intended to be administered to unconscious infants, but to persons in full possession of their faculties, and responsible for their actions. Moreover, it was performed, as is well known, not merely by sprinkling the forehead, but by causing the candidate to descend naked into the water, the priest joining him there, and pouring the water over his head. The catechumen could not receive baptism until after he understood something of the nature of the faith he was embracing, and was prepared to a.s.sume its obligations. A rite more totally unfitted for administration to _infants_ could hardly have been found. Yet such was the need that was felt for a solemn recognition by religion of the entrance of a child into the world, that this rite, in course of time, completely lost its original nature, and, as with the heathen, _infancy_ took the place of maturity: sprinkling of immersion. But while the age and manner of baptism were altered, the ritual remained under the influence of the primitive idea with which it had been inst.i.tuted. The obligations were no longer confined to the persons baptized, hence they must be undertaken for them. Thus was the Christian Church landed in the absurdity--unparalleled, we believe, in any other natal ceremony--of requiring the most solemn promises to be made, not by those who were thereafter to fulfill them, _but by others in their name_; these others having no power to enforce their fulfillment, and neither those actually a.s.suming the engagement, nor those on whose behalf it was a.s.sumed, being morally responsible in case it should be broken. Yet this strange incongruity was forced upon the church by an imperious want of human nature itself, and the insignificant sects who have adopted the baptism of adults only, have failed, in their zeal for historical consistency, to recognize a sentiment whose roots lie far deeper than the chronological foundation of Christian rites, and stretch far wider than the geographical boundaries of the Christian faith.

The intention of all these forms of baptism is identical. Water, as the natural means of physical cleansing, is the universal symbol of spiritual purification. Hence immersion, or washing, or sprinkling, implies the deliverance of the infant from the stain of original sin.[325:1] The _Pagan_ and _Christian_ rituals, as we have seen, are perfectly clear on this head. In both, the avowed intention is to wash away the sinful nature common to humanity; in both, the infant is declared to be born again by the agency of water. Among the early Christians, as with the Pagans, the sacrament of baptism was supposed to contain a full and absolute expiation of sin; and the soul was instantly restored to its original purity, and ent.i.tled to the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes of Christianity, there were many who judged it imprudent to precipitate a salutary rite, which could not be repeated; to throw away an inestimable privilege, which could never be recovered. By the delay of their baptism, they could venture freely to indulge their pa.s.sions in the enjoyments of this world, while they still retained in their own hands the means of a sure and easy absolution. St.

Constantine was one of these.

FOOTNOTES:

[316:1] The Rev. Dr. Geikie makes the a.s.sertion that: "With the call to repent, John united a significant rite for all who were willing to own their sins, and promise amendment of life. It was the _new_ and striking requirement of baptism, _which John had been sent by divine appointment to_ INTRODUCE." (Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 394.)

[316:2] See Galatians, ii. 7-9. Acts, x. and xi.

[316:3] See The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. pp. 658 and 472.

[316:4] See Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, ch. ii.

[316:5] Monumental Christianity, p. 385.

[317:1] "Among all nations, and from the very earliest period, WATER has been used as a species of religious sacrament. . . . Water was the agent by means of which everything was _regenerated or born again_. Hence, in all nations, we find the Dove, or Divine Love, operating by means of its agent, water, and all nations using the ceremony of plunging, or, as we call it, baptizing, for the remission of sins, to introduce the candidate to a regeneration, to a new birth unto righteousness."

(Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 529.)

"Baptism is a very ancient rite pertaining to _heathen_ religions, whether of Asia, Africa, Europe or America." (Bonwick: Egyptian Belief, p. 416.)

"Baptism, or purification by water, was a ceremony common to all religions of antiquity. It consists in being made clean from some supposed pollution or defilement." (Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 201.)

"L'usage de ce _Bapteme_ par immersion, qui subsista dans l'Occident jusqu' au 8{e} ciecle, se maintient encore dans l'Eglise Greque: c'est celui que Jean le _Precurseur_ administra, dans le Jourdain, a Jesus Christ meme. Il fut pratique chez les Juifs, chez les Grecs, _et chez presque tous les peuples_, bien des siecles _avant_ l'existence de la religion Chretienne." (D'Ancarville: Res., vol. i. p. 292.)

[317:2] See Amberly's a.n.a.lysis, p. 61. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 42.

Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 69, and Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 55 and 184.

[317:3] Lillie's Buddhism, p. 134.

[318:1] Life and Religion of the Hindus, p. 94.

[318:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 125.