Martinsburg statesman. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1869-1906, 1906-03-30
THE RITE OF IMMERSION.
Handed Down From Early Times
Once Most Elaborate Ceremony.

Handed Down From Early Times
Once Most Elaborate Ceremony.
No one knows when immersion as
religious act was adopted. 1t is
said that the old Egyptian priests
and some early Hindoos practiced 1t.
The Jews for ages baptized prose-
lytes.
Immersion was a rite of the Ro-
man Catholic Church up to the four
teenth century, when sprinkling was
authorized. The great baptisteries at
Pisa, Florence, Padua, Parma, etc.,
were fitted up with tanks for this
purpose. The boy who would be
baptized in the Roman Catholic
Church in those days found 1t an ex-
perience to be remembered all his
lifetime. He was called a catechu-
men, name which probably puzzled
him great deal to pronounce and to
understand. When he became one of
the catechumens he was obliged to
submit to long and elaborate course
of instruction, which, like his title,
was probably all Greek to him. After
he was fttingly prepared he was re
ceived" in the baptistery. Then his
Christian name was bestowed upon
him. He was directed to face the
west, where were supposed to abide
all the powers of darkness, and to
renounce the devil and all his works.
The priest then exercised the evil
spirits that they come out OF the boy
By laying his hands upon him and
breathing into his face. This was
to symbolic the departure OF the
evil spirits and the inbreathing of
the Holy Spirit. Then the priest put
his fingers to his lips, and moisten-
ing them with his own spittle touched
the nostrils and ears of the boy with
his moistened finger tips. This act,
suggested by that OF Jesus when he
opened the ears and set free the
tongue of the deaf and dumb man,
signifed that the boys ears were al
ways to be open to truth and himself
to the sweet odors of truth and vir-
tue. Then the lad disrobed, and his
body was anointed with Oil, as the
ancient wrestlers were for the fray.
This typified his preparation for the
fight against the powers of sin. At
the direction of the priest he opened
his mouth for the pinch OF salt, sig
nifying the wisdom and taste for
heavenly things proper for Chris
tian. He also ate Of milk and honey,
representing the food of spiritual
youth. The boy was quite apt to be
tired at the end of the preliminary
ceremonies, and the actual baptism
was postponed to the next day. Fol-
lowing the immersion. which early
was triple dip, the children put on
white robes, signifying the innocence
which their souls were supposed to
have acquired by baptism.
There were q number of INNER
sions in the early history Of the Ro-
man Catholic Church, according to
history and legend. The patron saint
of Ireland is said to have performed
the fatiguing feat of immersing sew
en- Irish kings and II 900 OF their
subjects in one day. This. perhaps.
may be taken with a grain of salt.
Austin, monk, according to some,
immersed 5000 in the River Swale,
In England. On Christmas Day, 496.
two years earlier, the strange specta-
tacle was witnessed of Frankish
king, Clovis l., and 5000 Of his SOL
diers filing into a Continental river
to be immersed in payment of vow.
The Baptist and Greek Catholic
churches are the best known denom-
nations practicing immersion. The
Seventh Day Baptists. the Dunkards,
the Disciples and other denomina-
lions also practice 1t. Over 4,500.-
600 persons in the United States have
been immersed.-NewY York Tribune.