Part 89 (1/2)

[311:10] Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 220.

[312:1] Quoted In Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. p. 221.

[312:2] Acosta: Hist. Indies, vol. ii. chs. xiii. and xiv.

[312:3] According to the ”_John_” narrator, Jesus ate no Paschal meal, but was captured the evening before Pa.s.sover, and was crucified before the feast opened. According to the _Synoptics_, Jesus partook of the Paschal supper, was captured the first night of the feast, and executed on the first day thereof, which was on a Friday. If the _John_ narrator's account is true, that of the _Synoptics_ is not, or _vice versa_.

[313:1] Mark, xiv. 13-16.

[313:2] Gen. xxiv.

[313:3] I. Kings, xvii. 8.

[313:4] II. Kings, iv. 8.

[313:5] Matt. xxvi. 18, 19.

[313:6] For further observations on this subject, see Dr. Isaac M.

Wise's ”Martyrdom of Jesus of Nazareth,” a valuable little work, published at the office of the American Israelite, Cincinnati, Ohio.

[315:1] See Gibbon's Rome, vol. v. pp. 399, 400. Calvin, after quoting _Matt._ xxvi. 26, 27, says: ”There is no doubt that as soon as these words are added to the bread and the wine, the bread and the wine become the _true_ body and the _true_ blood of Christ, so that the substance of bread and wine is trans.m.u.ted into the _true_ body and blood of Christ.

He who denies this calls the omnipotence of Christ in question, and charges Christ himself with foolishness.” (Calvin's Tracts, p. 214.

Translated by Henry Beveridge, Edinburgh, 1851.) In other parts of his writings, Calvin seems to contradict this statement, and speaks of the bread and wine in the Eucharist as being _symbolical_. Gibbon evidently refers to the pa.s.sage quoted above.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

BAPTISM.

Baptism, or purification from sin by water, is supposed by many to be an exclusive _Christian_ ceremony. The idea is that circ.u.mcision was given up, but _baptism took its place_ as a compulsory form indispensable to salvation, and was declared to have been inst.i.tuted by Jesus himself or by his predecessor John.[316:1] That Jesus was baptized by John may be true, or it may not, but that he never directly enjoined his followers to call the _heathen_ to a share in the privileges of the _Golden Age_ is gospel doctrine;[316:2] and this saying:

”Go out into _all the world_ to preach the gospel to every creature. And whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, but whoever believes not shall be d.a.m.ned,”

must therefore be of comparatively late origin, dating from a period at which the mission to the heathen was not only fully recognized, but even declared to have originated with the followers of Jesus.[316:3] When the early Christians received members among them they were _not_ initiated by baptism, but with prayer and laying on of hands. This, says _Eusebius_, was the ”_ancient custom_,” which was followed until the time of Stephen. During his bishopric controversies arose as to whether members should be received ”after the ancient Christian custom” or by baptism,[316:4] after the heathen custom. Rev. J. P. Lundy, who has made ancient religions a special study, and who, being a thorough Christian writer, endeavors to get over the difficulty by saying that:

”John the Baptist simply _adopted_ and practiced the _universal custom_ of sacred bathing _for the remission of sins_. Christ sanctioned it; the church inherited it from his example.”[316:5]

When we say that baptism is a _heathen_ rite adopted by the Christians, we come near the truth. Mr. Lundy is a strong advocate of the _type_ theory--of which we shall speak anon--therefore the above mode of reasoning is not to be wondered at.

The facts in the case are that baptism by immersion, or sprinkling in infancy, _for the remission of sin_, was a common rite, to be found in countries the most widely separated on the face of the earth, and the most unconnected in religious genealogy.[317:1]

If we turn to India we shall find that in the vast domain of the Buddhist faith the birth of children is regularly the occasion of a ceremony, at which the priest is present. In Mongolia and Thibet this ceremony a.s.sumes the special form of _baptism_. Candles burn and incense is offered on the domestic altar, the priest reads the prescribed prayers, _dips the child three times in water, and imposes on it a name_.[317:2]

_Brahmanism_, from the very earliest times, had its initiatory rites, similar to what we shall find among the ancient Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Mr. Mackenzie, in his ”Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia,”

(_sub voce_ ”Mysteries of Hindustan,”) gives a capital digest of these mysteries from the ”Indische Alterthum-Skunde” of La.s.sen. After an invocation to the SUN, an oath was demanded of the aspirant, to the effect of implicit obedience to superiors, purity of body, and inviolable secrecy. _Water was then sprinkled over him_, suitable addresses were made to him, &c. This was supposed to const.i.tute the _regeneration_ of the candidate, and he was now invested with the white robe and the tiara. A peculiar cross was marked on his forehead, and the Tau cross on his breast. Finally, he was given the sacred word, A. U.

M.[317:3]