Note 1 — VIII. PAGAN INITIATIONS AND THE SECOND BIRTH

(1) Baring Gould in his Orig. Relig. Belief, I. 401, says:—“Among the ancient Hindus Soma was a chief deity; he is called the Giver of Life and Health.... He became incarnate among men, was taken by them and slain, and brayed in a mortar (a god of corn and wine apparently). But he rose in flame to heaven to be ‘the Benefactor of the World’ and the ‘Mediator between God and Man!’ Through communion with him in his sacrifice, man (who partook of this god) has an assurance of immortality, for by that sacrament he obtains union with his divinity.”