they still
retained in their own hands the means of a sure and easy absolution. St.
Constantine was one of these.

FOOTNOTES:

[316:1] The Rev. Dr. Geikie makes the assertion that: "With the call to
repent, John united a significant rite for all who were willing to own
their sins, and promise amendment of life. It was the _new_ and striking
requirement of baptism, _which John had been sent by divine appointment
to_ INTRODUCE." (Life of Christ, vol. i. p. 394.)

[316:2] See Galatians, ii. 7-9. Acts, x. and xi.

[316:3] See The Bible for Learners, vol. iii. pp. 658 and 472.

[316:4] See Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, ch. ii.

[316:5] Monumental Christianity, p. 385.

[317:1] "Among all nations, and from the very earliest period, WATER has
been used as a species of religious sacrament. . . . Water was the agent
by means of which everything was _regenerated or born again_. Hence, in
all nations, we find the Dove, or Divine Love, operating by means of its
agent, water, and all nations using the ceremony of plunging, or, as we
call it, baptizing, for the remission of sins, to introduce the
candidate to a regeneration, to a new birth unto righteousness."
(Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. i. p. 529.)

"Baptism is a very ancient rite pertaining to _heathen_ religions,
whether of Asia, Africa, Europe or America." (Bonwick: Egyptian Belief,
p. 416.)

"Baptism, or purification by water, was a ceremony common to all
religions of antiquity. It consists in being made clean from some
supposed pollution or defilement." (Bell's Pantheon, vol. ii. p. 201.)

"L'usage de ce _Bapteme_ par immersion, qui subsista dans l'Occident
jusqu' au 8{e} ciecle, se maintient encore dans l'Eglise Greque: c'est
celui que Jean le _Precurseur_ administra, dans le Jourdain, a Jesus
Christ meme. Il fut pratique chez les Juifs, chez les Grecs, _et chez
presque tous les peuples_, bien des siecles _avant_ l'existence de la
religion Chretienne." (D'Ancarville: Res., vol. i. p. 292.)

[317:2] See Amberly's Analysis, p. 61. Bunsen's Angel-Messiah, p. 42.
Higgins' Anacalypsis, vol. ii. p. 69, and Lillie's Buddhism, pp. 55 and
184.

[317:3] Lillie's Buddhism, p. 134.

[318:1] Life and Religion of the Hindus, p. 94.

[318:2] Prog. Relig. Ideas, vol. i. p. 125.

"Every orthodox Hindu is perfectly persuaded that the dirtiest water, if
taken from a _sacred stream_ and applied to his body, either externally
or internally, _will purify his soul_." (Prof. Mon