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{33}
The sense attached to the ceremony by the Church is shown in this
prayer:--
"Thou didst sanctify the streams of Jordan by sending from Heaven Thy
Holy Spirit, and by breaking the heads of the dragons lurking there.
Therefore, O King, Lover of men, be Thou Thyself present also now by
the visitation of Thy Holy Spirit, and sanctify this water. Give also
to it the grace of ransom, the blessing of Jordan: make it a fountain
of incorruption; a gift of sanctification; a washing away of sins; a
warding off of diseases; destruction to demons; repulsion to the
hostile powers; filled with angelic strength; that all who take and
receive of it may have it for purification of souls and bodies, for
healing of sicknesses, for sanctification of houses, and meet for
every need."{34}
Though for the Church the immersion of the cross represents the Baptism
of Christ, and the blessings springing from that event are supposed to be
carried to the people by the sprinkling with the water, it is held by
some students that the whole practice is a Christianization of a
primitive rain-charm--a piece of sympathetic magic intended to produce
rain by imitating the drenching which it gives.


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