human
The idea of using water as emblematic of spiritual washing is too obvious to allow surprise at the antiquity of this rite. Dr. Hyde, in his treatise on the _Religion of the Ancient Persians_, xxxiv. 406, tells us that it prevailed among that people. 'They do not use circumcision for their children, but only baptism, or washing for the purification of the soul. They bring the child to the priest into the church, and place him in front of the sun and fire, which ceremony being completed, they look upon him as more sacred than before. Lord says that they bring the water for this purpose in bark of the Holm-tree; that tree is in truth the Haum of the Magi, of which we spoke before on another occasion. Sometimes also it is otherwise done by immersing him in a large vessel of water, as Tavernier tells us. After such washing, or baptism, the priest imposes on the child the name given by the parents.' [335] A few weeks after the birth of a Hindu child a ceremony is performed, a part of which consists in sprinkling the child with water--such sprinkling entering into all Hindu worship. Williamson gives authorities for the practise of Baptism in Egypt, Persia, Thibet, Mongolia, Mexico, Peru, Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and among the Druids.[336] Some of the prayers quoted are very fine:
gpt
I pray that this celestial water, blue and light blue, may enter into thy body and there live. I pray that it may destroy in thee, and put away from thee, all the things evil and adverse that were given to thee before the beginning of the world.
human
O child! receive the water of the Lord of the world who is our life: it is to wash and to purify; may these drops remove the sin which was given to thee before the creation of the world, since all of us are under its power.