BAPHOMET, the imaginary symbol or idol which the Knights Templars were accused of worshipping in their secret rites. The term is supposed to be a corruption of Mahomet, who in several medieval Latin poems seems to be called by this name. J. von Hammer-Purgstall, in his Mysterium Baphometis relevatum, &c., and Die Schuld der Templer, revived the old charge against the Templars. The word, according to his interpretation, signifies the baptism of Metis, or of fire, and is, therefore, connected with the impurities of the Gnostic Ophites (q.v.). Additional
evidence of this, according to Hammer-Purgstall, is to be found in the architectural decorations of the Templars' churches.
An elaborate criticism of Hammer-Purgstall's arguments was made in the Journal des Savans, March and April 1819, by M. Raynouard, a well-known defender of the Templars. (See also Hallam, Middle Ages, c. i. note 15.)
BAPTISM. The Gr. words βαπτισμός and βάπτισμα (both of which occur in the New Testament) signify "ceremonial washing," from the verb βαπτίζω, the shorter form βάπτω meaning "dip" without ritual significance (e.g. the finger in water, a robe in blood). That a ritual washing away of sin characterized other religions than the Christian, the Fathers of the church were aware, and Tertullian notices, in his tract On Baptism (ch. v.), that the votaries of Isis and Mithras were initiated per lavacrum, "through a font," and that in the Ludi Apollinares et Eleusinii, i.e. the mysteries of Apollo and Eleusis, men were baptized (tinguntur, Tertullian's favourite word for baptism), and, what is more, baptized, as they presumed to think, "unto regeneration and exemption from the guilt of their perjuries." "Among the ancients," he adds, "anyone who had stained himself with homicide went in search of waters that could purge him of his guilt."
The texts of the New Testament relating to Christian baptism, given roughly in chronological order, are the following:—
A.D. 55-60, Rom. vi. 3, 4; 1 Cor. i. 12-17, vi. 11, x. 1-4, xii. 13, xv. 29; Gal. iii. 27.
A.D. 60-65, Col. ii. 11, 12; Eph. iv. 5, v. 26.
A.D. 60-70, Mark x. 38, 39.
A.D. 80-90, Acts i. 5, ii. 38-41, viii. 16, 17, x. 44-48, xix. 1-7, xxii. 16; 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21; Heb. x. 22.
A.D. 90-100, John iii. 3-8, iii. 22, iii. 26, iv. 1, 2.