Chapter III: Asiatic Pagan Water-Worship

Fundamental Corruption of Christian Baptism through Pagan
Water-Worship--“Baptismal Regeneration,” the Product of
Paganism--Spiritual Purity Sought through Pagan Baptism--Testimonies
from Jamblicus, Virgil, Ovid, Herodotus, Juvenal, and others--Baptism
and Serpent-Worship--Baptism and Egyptian Sun-Worship--The Sacred
Nile--The Prevalence of Water-Worship in India--Sacred Wells--Sacred
Rivers--Modern Buddhistic and Modern Hindu Baptism.

Corrupting Influence of Pagan Water-Worship.

The work of corrupting Christianity went forward systematically, as though an enemy planned to undermine its fundamental truths and ruin the Church through internal errors. When allegorical methods had shorn the Bible of authority, and pushed God, as represented in his word, far away from men, the next important step was to corrupt the developing Church by a false standard of membership, thus planting a sure seed of decay in its heart. In New Testament Christianity, baptism--submersion in water--was the outward symbol of a new spiritual life, beginning through faith and repentance. As such it had a specific meaning, and from the earliest times formed the door to membership in the Christian communities. He who accepted Christ as the Messiah, testified such acceptance by being “buried with him in baptism.” This was the sign of an inward purity which entitled the believer to a place in the community, and to the fellowship of “those who believed.”

It was not the agent by which purity was produced, nor the source from which the new spiritual life sprung. All this was changed by introducing the pagan idea. The materials for such a corrupting process were fully developed in the pagan world.

Various forms of baptism, and the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, were common characteristics of pagan religion before the birth of Christ.

The pagan water-worship cult is secondary only to sun-worship, in age and extent. Its native home was in the East, but it appears in all periods and on both hemispheres. It had two phases: water as an object of worship, and as a means of inspiration; and water used in religious ceremonies to produce spiritual purity. These phases often mingle with each other.

This reverence for water, and faith in its cleansing efficacy, arose from the idea that it was permeated by the divine essence, from which it had supernatural power to enlighten and purify the soul, without regard to the spiritual state of the candidate. This doctrine of baptismal regeneration was transferred to Christianity before the close of the second century, and through it the Church was filled rapidly with baptized but unconverted pagans.

Sun-worship and water-worship were closely united in the pagan _cultus_, as they were in the corrupted Christian baptism. For instance, one fountain noted by Jamblicus is described thus, by BRYANT:

“From this history of the place we may learn the purport of the name
by which this oracular place was called. Colophon is Col-Oph-On,
Tumulus Dei Solis Pythonis, and corresponds with the character given.
The river into which this fountain ran was sacred, and named Halesus;
it was called Anelon, An-El-On, Fons Dei Solis. Halesus is composed
of well known titles of the same God.”[62]

The following are the words of JAMBLICUS:

“It is acknowledged then by all men that the oracle in Colophon gives
its answers through the medium of water. For there is a fountain
in a subterranean dwelling from which the prophetess drinks; and
on certain established nights after many sacred rites have been
previously performed, and she has drunk of the fountain, she delivers
oracles, but is not visible to those that are present. That this
water, therefore, is prophetic is from hence manifest. But how it
becomes so, this, according to the proverb, is not for every man
to know. For it appears as if a certain prophetic spirit pervaded
through the water. This is not, however, in reality the case. For
a divine nature does not pervade through its participants in this
manner, according to interval and division, but comprehends, as it
were, externally, and illuminates the fountain, and fills it from
itself with a prophetic power. For the inspiration which the water
affords is not the whole of that which proceeds from a divine power,
but the water itself only prepares us, and purifies our luciform
spirit, so that we may be able to receive the divinity; while in
the meantime, there is a presence of divinity prior to this, and
illuminating from on high.”[63]

Of another oracle Jamblicus says:

“The prophet woman too, in Branchidæ, whether she holds in her hand a
wand, which was at first received from some God, and becomes filled
with a divine splendor, or whether seated on an axis, she predicts
future events, or dips her feet, or the border of her garment in the
water, or receives the God by imbibing the vapor of the water; by all
these she becomes adapted to partake externally of the God.”[64]

Jamblicus also states that baths were a part of the preparation for being thus inspired. The same combination is shown by VIRGIL, in the following:

“He started up, and viewing the rising beams of the ethereal sun, in
his hollow palms with pious form he raised water from the river, and
poured forth to heaven these words: ‘Ye nymphs, ye Laurentine nymphs,
whence rivers have their origin; and Thou, O Father Tiber, with thy
sacred river, receive Æneas and defend him at length from dangers.
In whatever source thy lake contains thee, compassionate to our
misfortunes, from whatever soil thou springest forth most beauteous,
hornbearing river, monarch of the Italian streams, ever shalt thou be
honored with my veneration, ever with my offerings. O grant us thy
present aid, and by nearer aid confirm thy divine oracles.’”[65]

OVID, describing the feast of Pales, held in May, exhibits the same combination of sun and water-worship:

“Often in truth have I leaped over the fires placed in three rows,
and the dripping bough of laurel has flung the sprinkled waters....
Shepherd, purify the full sheep at the beginning of twilight, let
the water first sprinkle them, and let the broom made of twigs sweep
the ground.... Protect thou alike the cattle, and those who tend the
cattle, and let all harm fly afar, repelled from my stalls. Let that
happen which I pray for, and may we at the close of the year offer
cakes of goodly size to Pales, the mistress of the shepherds. With
these words must the goddess be propitiated; turning to the East,
do you repeat these words three times, and in the running stream
thoroughly wash your hands.”[66]

In another place Ovid tells us of Deucalion and Pyrrha, resolving to seek the sacred oracles, in prayer, at the temple of the goddess Themis; he says:

“There is no delay; together they repair to the waters of Cephissus,
though not yet clear, yet now cutting their wonted channel. Then
when they had sprinkled the waters poured on their clothes and their
heads, they turn their steps to the temple of the sacred goddess,
the roof of which was defiled with foul moss, and whose altars were
standing without fires.”[67]

The same combination appears among the Persians. HERODOTUS, describing the crossing of the Hellespont by Xerxes on his way to the invasion of Greece, says:

“That day they made preparations for the passage over; and on the
following they waited for the sun, as they wished to see it rising,
in the meantime burning all sorts of perfumes on the bridges, and
strewing the road with myrtle branches. When the sun rose, Xerxes,
pouring a libation into the sea out of a golden cup, offered up a
prayer to the sun, that no such accident might befall him as would
prevent him from subduing Europe, until he had reached its utmost
limits. After having prayed, he threw the cup into the Hellespont,
and a golden bowl and a Persian sword, which they call _acinace_. But
I cannot determine with certainty, whether he dropped these things
into the sea as an offering to the sun, or whether he repented of
having scourged the Hellespont and presented these gifts to the sea
as a compensation.”[68]

Purity Sought through Baptism.

The pagan conception that water produced spiritual purity was expressed in many ways. JUVENAL describes the custom of Roman women who sought to expiate their sins, committed in licentious revelries, as follows:

“She will break the ice and plunge into the river in the depth of
winter, or dip three times in the Tiber at early dawn, and bathe
her timid head in its very eddies, and thence emerging, will crawl
on bending knees, naked and shivering, over the whole field of the
haughty kings [the Campus Martius]. If white Io command, she will
go to the extremity of Egypt, and bring back water fetched from
scorching Meroe, to sprinkle on the temple of Isis, that rears itself
hard by the sheep-fold. For she believes that the warning is given
her by the voice of the goddess herself.”[69]

Mithraic and Gnostic Baptism.

The conception that water cleansed from sin was a prominent feature in Mithraicism and in gnosticism. KING, who is authority on all gnostic questions, says:

“In my account of Mithraicism, notice has been taken of the very
prominent part that sacraments for the remission of sin play in the
ceremonial of that religion; the following extracts from the grand
Gnostic text-book will serve to show how the same notions, (and
probably forms) were transferred to the service of Gnosticism.

“‘_Baptism Remitting Sins._’--(_Pistis-Sophia_) (298).

“‘Then came forth Mary and said: Lord, under what form do _baptisms_
remit sins? I have heard thee saying that the Ministers of
Contentions (ἐριδαῖοι)[70] follow after the soul, bearing witness
against it of all the sins that it hath committed, so that they may
convict it in the judgments. Now, therefore, Lord, do the mysteries
of Baptism blot out the sins that be in the hands of the Receivers
of Contention, so that they shall utterly forget the same? Now,
therefore, Lord, tell us in what form they remit sins; for we desire
to know them thoroughly. Then the Saviour answered and said: Thou
hast well spoken; of truth those Ministers are they that testify
against all sins, for they abide constantly in the places of
judgment, laying hold upon the souls, convicting all the souls of
sinners who have not received the mystery, and they keep them fast in
chaos tormenting them. But these contentious ones cannot pass over
chaos so as to enter into the courses that be above chaos; in order
to convict the souls therefore receiving the mysteries, it is not
lawful for them to force so as to drag them down into chaos, where
the Contentious Receivers may convict them. But the souls of such as
have not received the mysteries, these do they desire and hail into
chaos; whereas the souls that have received the mysteries, they have
no means of convicting, seeing that they cannot get out of their own
place, and even if they did come forth, they could not stop those
souls, neither shut them up in their chaos. Hearken, therefore, I
will declare to you in truth in what form the mystery of Baptism
remitteth sins. If the souls when yet living in the world have been
sinful, the Contentious Receivers verily do come, that they may bear
witness of all the sins they have committed, but they can by no means
come forth out of the regions of chaos, so as to convict the soul
in the places of judgment that be beyond chaos. But the counterfeit
of the spirit testifies against all the sins of the soul, in order
to convict it in the places of judgment that be beyond chaos. Not
only doth it testify, but also sets a _seal_ upon all the sins of
the soul, so as to print them firmly upon the soul, that all the
Rulers of the judgment place of the sinners may know that it is the
soul of a sinner, and likewise know the _number_ of sins which it
hath committed from the seals that the counterfeit of the spirit
hath imprinted upon it, so that they may punish the soul according
to the number of its sins; this is the manner in which they treat
the soul of a sinner. (300) Now, therefore, if any one hath received
the mysteries of Baptism, _those mysteries become a great fire_,
exceeding strong and wise, so as to burn up all the sins; and the
Fire entereth into the soul secretly, so that it may consume within
it all the sins which the counterfeit of the spirit hath printed
there. Likewise it entereth into the body secretly, that it may
pursue all its pursuers, and divide them into parts--for it pursueth
within the body, the counterfeit of the spirit, and Fate--so that
it may divide them apart from the Power and the Soul, and place them
in one part of the body--so that the fire separates the counterfeit
of the spirit, Fate, and the Body into one portion, and the Soul and
the Power into another portion. The mystery of Baptism remaineth in
the middle of them, so that it may perpetually separate them, so that
it may purge and cleanse them in order that they may not be polluted
by _Matter_. Now, therefore, Mary, this is the manner whereby the
mystery of Baptism remitteth sins and all transgressions.

(301) “‘And when the Saviour had thus spoken, he said to his
disciples: Do ye understand in what manner I speak with you? Then
came forth Mary saying: Of a truth, Lord, I perceive in reality all
the things that thou hast said. Touching this matter of the Remission
of Sins, thou speaketh aforetime to us in a parable, saying: I am
come to bring fire upon the earth, nay more; let it burn as much as
I please. And, again thou hast set it forth openly, saying: I have a
baptism wherewith I will baptize and how shall I endure until it be
accomplished? Ye think that I am come to bring peace upon the earth?
By no means so, but dissension, which I am come to bring. For from
this time forth there shall be five in one house; three shall be
divided against two, and two against three. This, Lord, is the word
that thou speakest openly. But concerning the word that thou spakest:
I am come to bring fire upon the earth, and let it burn so much as
I please; in this thou hast spoken of the mystery of Baptism in the
world, and let it burn as much as thou pleasest for to consume all
the sins of the soul, that it may purge them away. And again thou
hast shewn the same forth openly, saying: I have a baptism wherewith
I will baptize, and how shall I endure until it be accomplished? The
which is this: Thou wilt not tarry in the world until the baptisms
be accomplished to purify all the perfect souls. And again what thou
spakest unto us aforetime: “Do ye suppose I am come to bring peace
upon earth,” etc. (302) This signifieth the mystery of Baptism which
thou hast brought into the world, because it hath brought about
dissension in the body of the world, because it hath divided the
Counterfeit of the spirit, the Body, and the Fate thereof, into one
party, and the Soul and the Power into the other party. The same
is, “There shall be three against two, and two against three.” And
when Mary had spoken these things the Saviour said: Well done thou
spiritual one in the pure light, this is the interpretation of my
saying.’”[71]

The opinion of Simon Magus, a representative Gnostic, concerning baptism is expressed by King thus:

“The Kabbalists, or Jewish Gnostics, like Simon Magus, found a
large portion of apostolic teaching in accordance with their own,
and easily grafted upon it so much as they liked. Again the Divine
power of working miracles possessed by the Apostles and their
successors, naturally attracted the interest of those whose chief
mystery was the practice of magic. Simon the Magician was considered
by the Samaritans to be ‘the great Power of God’; he was attracted
by the miracles wrought by the Apostles, and no doubt he sincerely
‘believed’--that is, after his own fashion. His notion of Holy
Baptism was probably an initiation into a new mystery, with a higher
Gnosis than he possessed before, and by which he hoped to be endued
with higher powers; and so likewise many of those who were called
Gnostic Heretics by the Christian Fathers, were not Christians at
all, only they adopted so much of the Christian doctrine as accorded
with their system.”[72]

Baptism of Blood.

The importance which the sun-worship cult attached to baptism is further shown in the baptism of blood, which formed a prominent feature in the Mithraic system of atonement and spiritual enlightenment. This is commented upon by King as follows:

“The ‘Taurobolia,’ or _Baptism of Blood_, during the later ages
of the Western Empire, held the foremost place, as the means of
purification from sin, however atrocious. Prudentius has left a
minute description of this horrid rite, in which the person to be
regenerated, being stripped of his clothing, descended into a pit,
which was covered with planks pierced full of holes; a bull was
slaughtered upon them whose hot blood, streaming down through these
apertures (after the fashion of a shower-bath) thoroughly drenched
the recipient below. The selection of the particular victim proves
this ceremony in connection with the Mithraic, which latter, as
Justin says, had a ‘baptism for the remission of Sins’; and the Bull
being in that religion the recognized emblem of _life_, his blood
necessarily constituted the most effectual laver of regeneration.
No more conclusive evidence of the value then attached to the
Taurobolia can be adduced, than the fact mentioned by Lampridius
that the priest-emperor Heliogabalus thought it necessary to submit
to its performance; and a pit, constructed for the purpose as late
as the fourth century, has lately been discovered within the sacred
precincts of the Temple at Eleusis, the most holy spot in all
Greece.”[73]

Baptism at Death, and for the Dead.

The following throws light upon the pagan origin of baptism as a saving act, at death, and after death. Describing the nature of the mystic formulæ which the Gnostics used, King says:

“The motive for placing in the coffin of the defunct _illuminato_
these ‘words of power’ graven on scrolls of lead, plates of bronze,
the gems we are considering, and doubtless to an infinitely greater
extent on more perishable materials, derives much light from the
description Epiphanius gives of the ceremony whereby the Heracleonitæ
prepared their dying brother for the next world. They sprinkled his
head with water, mingled with oil, and opobalsamum, repeating at
the same time the form of words used by the Marcosians in baptism,
in order that his _Inner Man_, thus provided, might escape the
vigilance of the Principalities and Powers whose domains he was about
to traverse, and mount up unseen by any to the Pleroma from which
he had originally descended. Their priests therefore instructed the
dying man that as he came before these Powers he was to address them
in the following words: ‘I, the son from the Father, the Father
pre-existing, but the son in the present time, am come to behold all
things, both of others and of my own, and things not altogether of
others, but belonging unto Achamoth (_Wisdom_) who is feminine, and
hath created them for herself. But I declare my own origin from the
Pre-existing One, and I am going back unto my own from which I have
descended.’ By the virtue of these words he will elude the Powers and
arrive at the Demiurgus in the eighth sphere, whom again he must thus
address: ‘I am a precious vessel, superior to the female power who
made thee, inasmuch as thy mother knoweth not her own origin, whereas
I know myself, and I know whence I am; and I invoke the Incorruptible
Wisdom who is in the father and in the mother of your mother who
hath no father--nay, not even a male consort, but being a female
sprung from a female that created thee, though she herself knows
not her mother, but believes herself to exist alone. But I invoke
the mother.’ At this address the Demiurgus is struck with confusion
(as well he might be) and forced to acknowledge the baseness of his
origin; whereupon the inner man of the Gnostic casts off his bondage
as well as his own _angel_ or soul, which remains with the Demiurgus
for further use, and ascends still higher into his proper place.”[74]

We shall find that this pagan conception became very prominent in the early Church. The “being baptized for the dead,” of which Paul speaks, and which was much practised after the second century, sprang from this source; also delaying baptism until the moment of death.

Baptism and Serpent-Worship.

The serpent worshippers formed a prominent branch of the Gnostics, if they were not the originators of the system. Water-worship was a special and fundamental idea in their creed. Witness the following from King.

“The well-informed and temperate Hippolytus, writing at the most
flourishing period of these transitional theosophies, thus opens his
actual ‘Refutation of All Heresies,’ and his Fifth Book with the
description ‘of that sect which hath dared to boast the _Serpent_
as the author of their religion, as they prove by certain arguments
wherewith _he_ hath inspired them. On this account the apostles
and priests of this creed have been styled “Naaseni,” from “Naas”
the Hebrew word for _serpent_; but subsequently they entitled
themselves “The Gnostics,” because they alone understood the deep
things of religion. Out of this sect sprung many other teachers,
who, by diversifying the original doctrines through inventions of
their own, became the founders of new systems.’ Further on he has
a passage bearing immediately upon this subject. ‘This _Naas_ is
the _only thing_ they worship, for which reason they are called
“Naaseni,” (_i. e._, Ophites, or Serpent-worshippers). From this
same word _Naas_, they pretend that all the temples (ναοί) under
Heaven derive the name. And unto this Naas are dedicated every rite,
ceremony, mystery, that is; in short, not one rite can be found under
Heaven into which this Naas does not enter. For they say the Serpent
signifies the element Water; and with Thales of Miletus contend that
nothing in the Universe can subsist without it, whether of things
mortal or immortal, animate or inanimate. All things are subject unto
him; and he is good, and hath all good things within himself as in
the horn of a unicorn, so that he imparts beauty and perfection unto
all that is, inasmuch as he pervades all things, as flowing out of
Eden, and divided into four heads.... This Naas is the “water above
the firmament” and likewise “the living water” spoken of by the
Saviour. Unto this _Water_ all Nature is drawn, and attracts out of
the same whatever is analogous to its own nature, each thing after
its own kind, with more avidity than the loadstone draws the iron,
the ray of the sea-hawk, gold, or amber straws. Then they go on to
boast: We are the _Spiritual_, who have drawn our own portion out of
the living water of the Euphrates that flows through the midst of
Babylon; and who have entered in through the True Gate, the which
is Jesus the Blessed. And we of all men are the _only Christians_
in the Third Gate, celebrating the Mystery, being anointed with the
ineffable ointment out of the _horn_, like David, not out of the
_earthen vessel_, like Saul who conversed with the Evil Spirit of
carnal concupiscence.’”[75]

The conception of water as a life-producing agent appears prominently in the religion of the Egyptians. They associated it with Osiris, the life-producing god of the sun. Speaking of this King says:

“The _symbols_ of the same worship have been to some extent explained
by persons writing at a time when they were still a living though
fast expiring language. Of such writers the most valuable is
Plutarch, who in his curious treatise _De Iside et Osiride_, has
given the meaning of several of these symbols, and, as it would
appear, upon very good authority. According to him, Isis sometimes
signifies the Moon, in which sense she is denoted by a Crescent:
sometimes the Earth as fecundated by the waters of the Nile. For this
reason water, as the seed of Osiris, was carried in a vase in the
processions in honor of this goddess.”[76]

JAMES BONWICK, F.R.G.S., says:

“The baptism of Egypt is known by the hieroglyphic terms of ‘waters
of purification.’ In Egypt, as in Peru, the water so used in
immersion absolutely cleansed the soul, and the person was said to be
_regenerated_. The water itself was holy, and the place was known,
as afterwards by the Eastern Christians, by the name of _holy bath_.
The early Christians called it being ‘brought anew into the world.’
The ancients always gave a new name at baptism, which custom was
afterwards followed by moderns. The Mithraic font for the baptism of
ancient Persians is regarded as of Egyptian origin. Augustine may,
then, well say that ‘in many sacrilegious rites of idols, persons are
reported to be baptized.’”[77]

The Sacred Nile.

Pagan water-worship everywhere was closely associated with sacred rivers. HARDWICK speaks of the Nile as follows:

“As the Nile, for instance, was a sacred river and as such was
invoked in the Egyptian hymns among the foremost of the national
gods, whatever bore directly on the culture of the soil, and the
succession of the crops in every district of the Nile valley, was
enforced among the duties claimed from husbandmen by that divinity.
To brush its sacred surface with the balance bucket at a forbidden
time was a crime equal in atrocity to that of reviling the face of a
king or of a father.”[78]

Water-Worship in India.

Sir MONIER-WILLIAMS describes water-worship in India as follows:

“Rivers as sources of fertility and purification were at an early
date invested with a sacred character. Every great river was supposed
to be permeated with the divine essence, and its waters held to
cleanse from all moral guilt and contamination, and as the Ganges was
the most majestic, so it soon became the holiest and most sacred of
all rivers. No sin was too heinous to be removed, no character too
black to be washed clean by its waters. Hence the countless temples
with flights of steps lining its banks; hence the array of priests,
called ‘Sons of the Ganges,’ sitting on the edge of its streams,
ready to aid the ablutions of conscience-stricken bathers, and stamp
them as whitewashed when they emerge from its waters. Hence also the
constant traffic carried on in transporting Ganges water in small
bottles to all parts of the country.”[79]

Sacred wells abound in India, especially in and around the city of Benares. Mr. Williams describes some of these as follows. The one first noted is said to be sacred, because when a certain temple was destroyed by the Mohammedans the outraged god took refuge in this well; thus it became a sacred shrine. Mr. Williams says:

“Thither, therefore, a constant throng of worshippers continually
resort, bringing with them offerings of flowers, rice and other
grain, which they throw into the water thirty or forty feet below the
ground. A Brahman is perpetually employed in drawing up the putrid
liquid, the smell or rather stench of which, from incessant admixture
of decaying flowers and vegetable matter, makes the neighborhood
almost unbearable. This he pours with a ladle into the hands of the
expectant crowds, who either drink it with avidity, or sprinkle it
reverentially over their persons. A still more sacred well, called
the Manikarnika, situated on one of the chief Ghats leading to
the Ganges, owes its origin, in popular belief, to the fortunate
circumstance that one of Siva’s earrings happened to fall on the
spot. This well is near the surface and quite exposed to view. It
forms a small quadrangular pool, not more than three feet deep. Four
flights of steps on the four sides lead to the water, the disgusting
foulness of which, in the estimation of countless pilgrims, vastly
enhances its efficacy for the removal of sin. The most abandoned
criminals journey from distant parts of India to the margin of this
sacred pool. There they secure the services of Brahmans, appointed
to the duty, and descending with them into the water are made to
repeat certain texts and mutter certain mystic formulæ, the meaning
of which they are wholly unable to understand. Then, while in the act
of repeating the words put into their mouths, they eagerly immerse
their entire persons beneath the offensive liquid. The longed-for dip
over, a miraculous transformation is the result; for the foul water
has cleansed the still fouler soul. Few Hindus venture to doubt that
the most depraved sinner in existence may thus be converted into an
immaculate saint, worthy of being translated at once to the highest
heaven of the god of Benares.

“But to return to the temple of Visvesvara. I found when I visited it
a constant stream of worshippers passing in and out. In fact, Siva,
in his character of the lord of the universe, is the supreme deity
of Benares. Not that the pilgrims are prohibited from worshipping
at the shrines of other gods, but that Siva is here paramount, and
claims the first homage. Yet this supreme god has no image; he is
represented by a plain conical stone, to wit, the Linga or symbol
of male generative power. The method of performing worship in this
great central and confessedly typical temple of Hinduism, appeared
to me very remarkable in its contrast with all Christian ideas of
the nature of worship. All that each worshipper did was to bring
Ganges water with him, in a small metal vessel, and pour the water
over the stone Linga; at the same time ringing one of the bells
hanging from the roof, to attract the god’s attention towards
himself, bowing low in obeisance and muttering a few texts, with the
repetition of the god’s name. In this way the god’s symbol was kept
perpetually deluged with water, while the crowds who passed in and
out lingered for a time close to the shrine, talking to each other
in loud tones. Nor did any idea of irreverence seem to be attached
to noisy vociferation in the interior of the sanctuary itself. Nor
was any objection made to an unbeliever, like myself, approaching and
looking inside; whereas in the south of India I was strictly excluded
from all the avenues to the inner Linga sanctuaries.[80] In the
courts adjacent to the Linga were other shrines dedicated to various
deities, and in a kind of cloister or gallery which encircled the
temple, were thousands of stone Lingas crowded together carelessly,
and apparently only intended as votive offerings. I noticed the coil
of a serpent carved around one or two of the most conspicuous symbols
of male generative energy, and the combination appeared to be very
significant and instructive.”[81]

In another work Mr. Williams says:

“Passing on to the worship of water, especially running water, it
is to be observed that river-water is everywhere throughout India
held to be instinct with divinity. It is not merely holy, it is
especially pervaded by the divine essence. We must, however, be
careful to distinguish between the mere sacredness of either fire or
water, and their worship as mere personal deities. In _Rig-Veda_, X.,
30, X., 9, VII., 47, and other passages of the _Veda_, the Waters
are personified, deified and honored as goddesses, and called the
Mothers of earth. In X., 17, 10, their purifying power, and in
VI., 50, 7, their healing power, is celebrated. They cleanse their
worshippers from sin and untruthfulness (I., 6, 22, 23).... The river
Sarasvati--called the purifier in _Rig-Veda_, I., 3, 10--was to the
earlier Hindus what the Ganges was to the later. She was instinct
with divinity, and her influence permeated the writers of the Vedic
hymns. Sometimes she is identified with the Vedic goddess, vac,
speech, and invoked as the patroness of Science.”[82]

The confluence of the Ganges with the Jumna and Sarasvati is one of the most hallowed spots in India. Many other rivers are held as being especially sacred. The river Narboda is deemed by some to surpass all others. The mere sight of it cleanses the soul from all guilt. It makes all other waters sacred for thirty miles northward and eighteen southward. The banks of all the chief rivers in India are considered holy ground from their source to the sea. Pilgrimages, which continue for six years, are undertaken, the pilgrim going down one bank of the Ganges, and returning by another. Many hardships are incidental to such pilgrimages, but are counted light, and the greater the difficulties the greater the resultant merit.

In a still later work, Sir Williams describes the present baptismal custom in Thibet and Mongolia, as follows:

“It is noticeable that a kind of baptism is practised in Tibet and
Mongolia. It is usual to sprinkle children with consecrated water,
or even to immerse them entirely on the third or tenth day after
birth. This is called Khrus-sol (according to Jäschke). The priest
consecrates the water by reciting some formula, while candles and
incense are burning. He then dips the child three times, blesses it,
and gives it a name. After performing the ceremony he draws up the
infant’s horoscope. Then, as soon as the child can walk and talk,
a second ceremony takes place, when prayers are said for its happy
life, and an amulet or little bag is hung around its neck, filled
with spells and charms against evil spirits and diseases.”[83]

Other writers support the foregoing, though Sir Williams is too high an authority to need confirmation. ALABASTER says:

“Baptism was a religious rite from very ancient times, the Brahmins
holding that if any one who had sinned went to the banks of the
Ganges and saying: ‘I will not sin again,’ plunged into the stream,
he would rise to the surface free of sin, all his sins floating away
with the water; hence it is called baptism, or the rite of washing
off offences, so that they floated away. Sometimes where any one was
sick unto death, his relatives would place him by the river, and give
him water to drink, and pour water over him till he died, believing
that he would thus die holy and go to heaven.”[84]

Mr. WILKINS says:

“Dasahara: this festival commemorates the descent of the Ganges
from heaven to earth, and is called Dasahara, because bathing at
this season is said to remove all the sins committed in ten births,
_i. e._, during ten different lives. This is a most interesting
ceremony. Thousands upon thousands of the people bring their
offerings of flowers, fruits and grain to the river-side, and then
enter the sacred stream. It is a thing worthy of note that although
in many places men and women bathe together, the men having simply a
cloth around their loins, and the women often having the upper part
of their bodies exposed, I have never seen the slightest impropriety
of gestures on these occasions. In some festivals, as previously
noticed, the grossest impropriety of language and gesture are freely
indulged in: but at bathing festivals I have never noticed anything
indecent. It is proper to bathe in the Ganges, for those who live
near enough; but other rivers may take the place of the Ganges, and
legends have been manufactured to show that their virtues are even
greater than those of the Ganges; if there is no river convenient,
then a tank can be substituted.”[85]

Modern Buddhistic Baptism.

The modern water-worship connected with Buddhism is described by Sir Monier-Williams in his latest book[86] as follows:

“In Burmah, where a good type of southern Buddhism is still to be
found, the New Year’s festival might suitably be called a ‘water
festival.’ It has there so little connection with the increase of the
New Year’s light that it often takes place as late as the early half
of April.[87] It is, however, a movable feast, the date of which is
regularly fixed by the astrologers of Mandalay, who ‘make intricate
calculations based on the position of various constellations.’ The
object is to determine on what precise day the king of the Naths will
descend upon the earth and inaugurate the new year. When the day
arrives all are on the watch, and just at the right moment, which
invariably occurs at midnight, a cannon is fired off, announcing the
descendant of the Nath king upon earth. Forthwith (according to Mr.
Scott) men and women sally out of their houses, carrying pots full of
water, consecrated by fresh leaves and twigs of a sacred tree, repeat
a formal prayer, and pour out the water on the ground. At the same
time all who have guns of any kind discharge them, so as to greet the
new year with as much noise as possible.

“Then, ‘with the first glimmer of light’ all take jars full of fresh
water and carry them off to the nearest monastery. First they present
them to the monks, and then proceed to bathe the images. This work
is usually done by the women of the party, ‘who reverently clamber
up’ and empty their goblets of water over the placid features of the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Then begins the Saturnalia. All along the
road are urchins with squirts and syringes, with which they have been
furtively practising for the last few days. The skill thus acquired
is exhibited by the accuracy of their aim. Cold streams of water
catch the ears of the passers-by. Young men and girls salute one
another with the contents of jars and goblets. Shouts of merriment
are heard in every quarter. Before breakfast every one is soaked,
but no one thinks of changing his garments, for the weather is warm
and ‘water is everywhere.’ The girls are the most enthusiastic, as
they generally go in bands and carry copious reservoirs along with
them; ‘unprotected males’ are soon routed. Then a number of ‘zealous
people’ go down to the river, wade into the water knee-deep, splash
about, and drench one another till they are tired. No one escapes.
For three days no one likes to be seen with dry clothes. The wetting
is a compliment.”[88]

“In Tibet there is a water festival in the seventh or eighth month
(about our August and September). At this festival the Lamas go
in procession to rivers and lakes and consecrate the waters by
benediction or by throwing in offerings. Huts and tents are erected
on the banks, and people bathe and drink to wash away their sins. It
concludes with dancing, buffoonery, and masquerading.”[89]

LYDIA MARIA CHILD thus describes

Baptism among the Hindus:

“Water is supposed to cleanse the soul and guard from evil. When a
child is born priests sprinkle it, and sprinkle the dwelling, and
all the inmates of the house bathe. They do this from an idea that
it keeps off evil spirits. People perform ablutions before they eat;
and priests purify themselves with water, accompanied with prayers,
on innumerable occasions. When a man is dying, Brahmins hasten to
plunge him into a river, believing that the departing soul may be
thus freed from impurities before it quits the body. Some rivers are
deemed more peculiarly holy and efficacious than others, such as the
Ganges, the Indus, and the Chrishna; the water of the Ganges is used
on all the most solemn occasions. Images of the deities are washed
with it, and Brahmins are sprinkled with it, when inducted into the
priestly office. Happy above other men is he who is drowned in that
sacred stream. Once in twelve years the waters of Lake Cumbhacum are
supposed to be gifted with power to cleanse from all sin. As this
period approaches, Brahmins send messengers in every direction to
announce when the great day of ablution will take place. The shores
are crowded with a vast multitude of men, women, and children from
far and near. They plunge, at a signal from the officiating Brahmin,
and in the universal rush many a one is suffocated or has his limbs
broken. Water from the Ganges is kept in the temples, and when the
people are dying they often send from a great distance to obtain some
of it. Before devotees put their feet into a river they wash their
hands and utter a prayer.”[90]

These witnesses show us that water-worship and baptism, the water being variously employed, by immersion, sprinkling, pouring, etc., has formed a prominent feature in Oriental paganism from the earliest time until now. It passed from the Orient to Greece and Rome. Perhaps the stream from Egypt was an independent one, which came from the south. Before considering the immediate contact of pagan water-worship with early Christianity, it is necessary to note its existence outside of the Orient and Egypt.

FOOTNOTES:

[62] _Analysis of Ancient Mythology_, by Jacob Bryant, third edition, six vols. London, 1807, vol. i., page 255.

[63] Jamblicus--Taylor’s translation,--_The Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians_, p. 141, Chiswick, 1821.

[64] _Ibid._, p. 144.

[65] _Æneid_, book viii., lines 70-82.

[66] _Fasti_, book iv., between lines 728 and 779.

[67] _Metamorphoses_, book i., fable 10, line 651 f.

[68] Herodotus, book vii., section 54, page 431, N. Y., 1848.

[69] _Satire_ vii., lines 520-30, page 59, Evans’ translation, Bohn, London, 1852.

[70] The Cabiri, “punishers of the ancient mythology, performing their former duties under the new dispensation.”

[71] _The Gnostics and Their Remains_, pp. 141 ff.

[72] _Ibid._, p. 6.

[73] _Ibid._, p. 154.

[74] _Ibid._, pp. 329, 330.

[75] _The Gnostics and Their Remains_, p. 224.

The references to Hippolytus, made by King may be found in vol. vi., Ante-Nicene Library, Edinburgh, 1877, pp. 126-194, especially 150, 151. One should read the fifth book of his “Refutation of All Heresies” to see how much water, as a divine agency and power, entered into various phases of the gnostic system. The original of the quotations from the gnostic gospel, _Pistis-Sophia_, may be found in the London edition--Latin--of 1856.

[76] _Ibid._, p. 106.

[77] _Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought_, p. 416, London, 1878.

[78] _Christ and Other Masters_, part iv., p. 84.

[79] _Brahmanism and Hinduism_, by Sir Monier-Williams, M.A., D.C.L., London, 1887, p. 172.

[80] See p. 447.

[81] _Ibid._, p. 437 ff.

[82] _Religious Thought and Life in India_, p. 346, London, 1883.

[83] _Buddhism_, etc., p. 356, 357, New York, 1889.

[84] _The Wheel of the Law; Buddhism, Illustrated from Siamese Sources_, by Henry Alabaster, London, 1871, pp. 30, 31.

[85] _Modern Hinduism_, by W. J. Wilkins, p. 219, New York, 1887. Consult also, _Religions of India_, by A. Barth, p. 278 ff., New York, 1882.

[86] _Buddhism in its Connection with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in its Contrast with Christianity_, second edition, London, 1890.

[87] See Mr. Scott’s _Burmah_, ii., 48.

[88] Pp. 341, 342.

[89] P. 344.

[90] _The Progress of Religious Ideas_, New York, 1853, vol. i., p. 124.