Part 2 (1/2)

[Footnote 34: Acts 2.38; Acts 8.16; Acts 10.48; Acts 19.5; Acts 8.12, 13]

[Footnote 35: Acts 8.38; Acts 9.18; Acts 18.8, 25; Acts 16.15, 33]

[Footnote 36: Jon. 4.2]

[Footnote 37: Acts 18.25; Acts 19.3, 5]

[Footnote 38: ”The Ante-Nicene Fathers”; ”The teachings of the twelve Apostles”; Ecclesiastical History Vol. 1, P. 164]

[Footnote 39: 1 Cor. 1.17]

[Footnote 40: 1 Cor. 1.14]

[Footnote 41: Acts 16.3; Gal. 2.3, 5; 1 Cor. 1.14]

[Footnote 42: 1 Tim. 2.7]

[Footnote 43: 2 Tim. 1.11]

[Footnote 44: 1 Cor. 1.17]

[Footnote 45: Jon. 1.33; Mark 1.10; Luke 3.22]

[Footnote 46: Luke 24.47, 49; Acts 1.4, 8; Acts 10.42, 45; Acts 11.15, 16]

[Footnote 47: 1 Cor. 2.4; 1 Thes. 1.5; 1 Peter 1.12]

WATER BAPTISM IN HISTORY AS A PAGAN AND JEWISH RITE.

From the writings of Grotius we gather that some ancients baptized with water in memory of the world being saved from the waters of the deluge.

Bancroft says: It is related by all the old Spanish historians that when the Spaniards first visited Yucatan they found baptism administered to both s.e.xes between the ages of three and twelve: It was the duty of all to have their children baptized, for by this ablution they believed they received a purer nature and were protected against evil spirits and misfortune. None could marry without it.[48]

Some baptised their children with ceremonies, which in many points resembled those in use among Christians.[49]

Smith in his Bible dictionary[50] says: It is well known that ablution or bathing was common in most ancient nations as a preparation for prayers and sacrifice or as expiatory of sin.

There is a natural connection in the mind between the thought of physical and spiritual pollution. In warm countries this connection is probably closer than in colder climates; hence the frequency of ablution in the religious rites of the East.

The history of Israel and the law of Moses abound with such l.u.s.trations.

The consecration of the high priest deserves special notice. It was first by baptism then by unction and lastly by sacrifice.

From the gospel history[51] we learn that at that time ceremonial was.h.i.+ngs had been greatly multiplied by traditions of the doctors and elders. The most important and probably one of the oldest of these traditional customs was the baptism of proselytes.

These usages of the Jews will account for the readiness with which all men flocked to the baptism of John the Baptist.[52]

Schurer in his history of the Jewish people[53] devotes several pages to giving reasons for believing that the Jews baptized proselytes long before the coming of Christ.