Formulize these feelings and we have the dogmas of "original
sin," and of "spiritual regeneration." The order of baptism among the
Aztecs commenced, "O child, receive the water of the Lord of the world,
which 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;" and concluded, "Now he liveth anew and
is born anew, now is he purified and cleansed, now our mother the Water
again bringeth him into the world."[128-1]
A name was then assigned to the child, usually that of some ancestor,
who it was supposed would thus be induced to exercise a kindly
supervision over the little one's future. In after life should the
person desire admittance to a superior class of the population and had
the wealth to purchase it--for here as in more enlightened lands
nobility was a matter of money--he underwent a second baptism and
received another name, but still ostensibly from the goddess of
water.
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