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to wash
in the Laver of Consecration, the Molten Sea, before he was allowed
to enter
upon the duties of his ministry in the sanctuary proper. And it is
in con-
formity with this rule that we find the Hero of the Gospels going
to the
river Jordan, where He underwent the mystic rite of Baptism. When
He rose,
we learn that the Spirit descended upon Him. Therefore it is
obvious that
those who follow the Christian Mystic Path of Initiation must
also be
similarly baptized before they can receive the Spirit, which is to
be their
[PAGE 76] ANCIENT AND MODERN
INITIATION
true guide through all the trials before them.
But what constitutes Baptism is a question which has called forth
argu-
ments of almost unbelievable intensity. Some contend that it is a
sprin-
kling with water, and other insist upon the immersion of the whole
body.
Some say that it is sufficient to take an infant into church,
sprinkle it
with water despite its protests, and presto! it becomes a Christian,
an heir
of heaven; whereas should it unfortunately die before this sacred
rite is
performed, it must inevitably go to hell. Others take the more
logical po-
sition that the desire of an individual for admission into the church
is the
prime factor necessary to make the rite effective, and therefore
wait until
adult age before the performance of the ceremony, which requires an
immer-
sion of the whole body in water. But whether the rite is performed
in in-
fancy or in laterlife, it seems strange that momentary immersion or
sprin-
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kling with water should have the power to save the soul; and when we
examine
the subsequent life of those who have thus been baptized, even in
adult age
and with their full consent and desire, we find little or no
improvement in
the great majority. Therefore it seems evident that this cannot
be the
proper rite, because the Spirit has not descended upon them.
Consequently
we must look for another explanation of what constitutes a true
mystic rite
of Baptism.
A story is told of an Ottoman king who declared war on a
neighboring na-
tion, fought a number of battles against it with varying success,
but was
[PAGE 77] THE MYSTIC RITE OF
BAPTISM
finally conquered and taken captive to the palace of the victor,
where he
was compelled to work in the most menial capacity as a slave.
After many
years fortune favored him, and he escaped to a far country, where
by hard
work he acquired a small estate, married, and had a number of
children, who
grew up around him. Finally he found himself upon his deathbed at
a very
rip old age, and in the exertion of drawing his last breath he
raised
himself upon his pillow and looked about him, but there were no
sons and
daughters there. He was not in the place which he had regarded as
home for
so many years, but in his own palace which he thought he had left
in his
youth, and he was as young as when he left it. There he found
himself sit-
ting in a chair with a basin of water close to his chin and a
servant en-
gaged in washing his hair and beard. He had just immersed his face
in the
water when the dream of going to war had started, and a lifetime
had been
lived in dreamland during the few seconds it took until he raised his
face.
There are thousands of other instances to show that outside the
physical
world time is nonexistent and the happenings of millennia are
easily in-
spected in a few moments.
It is also well known that when people are under water and in the
act of
drowning, their whole preceding life is reenacted before their
eyes with
crystal clarity, even the minutest details which have been forgotten
during
the passing years standing our sharply. Thus there must be and is a
store-
[PAGE 78] ANCIENT AND MODERN
INITIATION
house of events which may be contacted under certain conditions
when the
senses are stilled and we are near sleep or death.
To make this last sentence clear it should be understood and
borne in
mind that man is a composite being, having finer vehicles which
interpen-
etrate the physical body, usually regarded as the whole man.
.
During death
and sleep this dense body is unconscious on account of a complete
separation
between it and the finer vehicles; but this separation is only
partial dur-
ing dream-filled sleep and prior to drowning. This condition
enables the
spirit to impress events upon the brain with more or less accuracy
according
to circumstances, particularly those incidents which are connected
with it-
self. In the light of these things we shall understand what really
consti-
tutes the rite of Baptism.
According to the Nebular Theory that which is now the earth was
at one
time a luminous fire-mist, which gradually cooled by contact with
the cold
of space. This meeting of heat with cold generated moisture,
which
evaporated and rose from the heated center, until the cold condensed
it and
it fell again as moisture upon the heated world. The surface of the
earth
being thus subjected to alternate liquidation and evaporation for
ages, it
finally crystallized into a shell which perfectly covered the fiery
center.
This soft moisture-laden shell naturally generated a mist, which
surrounded
the planet as an atmosphere, and this was the cradle of everything
that has
its being upon the earth: man, animal, and plant.
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BAPTISM [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]