“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.