H I S T O RY O F T H E

S E C R ET D O C TR I N E S an d M Y S TI C
R I TE S o f A N C I EN T
R ELI GI O N S

AND

M e d i e val an d M o d e rn
S ec re t O rd e rs

By

DR . O T T O HENNE AM
S ta t e A r c h i v i s t f S t Ga l l
o .

S S SS S S S S S S S

ST O C K H A M P UB LI S H I NG C O M PA NY , I nc .

C H I CA G O I
, L LI N OS
I
 TR A N S LA TOR S ’
,
N O TE .

The Mysteries o f the Ancient Grecian religions ; th e

cryptic teachi n gs and o ccult interp retatio ns of the
po pu
lar religious b eliefs communicated to disciples by the
p riests in the temples of ancient Egypt Assyria , and ,

I ndia : th e interesting half fabulous half historical epi

, ,

sode of Pythagoras and the Pythagorean League in

M a gn a Grae c i a ; the mystic ascetic and semi monasti c
, ,
-

communiti es o f the Th erap eutae and the Essenes in Pal

e s t i n e a century before the bi rth of Jesus Chri st ; the

later develop ments of Mystici sm in th e time of t h e

Roman Empire as seen in the histo ry o f Apollonius o f
,

Tya n a and in I sis worship M ithras wo rship worship o f

, ,

the Great Mother etc ; th e secret cre ed and rites o f th e

,
.

Knights Templar and the usages o f th e lodges o f the .

Stonemasons in the M iddle Age ; th e constitution an d

pro cedure o f the F e m g eri c h te o f Westphalia in th e fo ur
t e e n th and fifteenth c enturi es ; th e origi n and hi sto ry and

the aims o f Freemason ry Ro si c ruci anism Illuminis m

, , ,

and a swarm of honest and fraudulent se c ret organiza

tions in modern times : all these top i c s have b efore bee n
‘

made subj ect matter of numerou s l earned tra c tates or of

-

po p ular com p ends ; but hitherto these doctrin es rites , ,

asso ciati ons hav e not b e ea ; s tud i ed in their unity in

, ,
iv TRAN S L A TOR S N OTE
’

their mutual relation O ne servi c e whi c h the author of

.

this wor k renders to t h estudent o f this parti cular phase

—
o f human p sy c ho logy the longing fo r mystery and
—
secret asso ciations is th at he develop s this relationship ,

thus enabling the reader to get a clear understanding o f

the whole subj ect .

B ut th e author does very m uc h more than to c o

o rdinate th e facts o f mystic associations H e is b oth a
.

s c holar and an artist . H aving amassed whatever i n

formatio n regarding th e Mysteries and allied phe
n o m e n a i s ac c es sible i n universal literature h e han d le s
,

his materials with the skill o f a c o nsummate master of

style and o f the art o f popular exp osition The result .

is a history of th e an c ient Mysteri e s and o f their counter

p arts and imitations i n later ti me s as authentic as the
,

most p ainstaking research could m ake it yet po ssessing

,

all the charm and grace o f a literary masterpiece .

J O S E P H FITZ GE R ALD .
 C ON TEN TS .

PART FI RST — M Y ST ERI ES O F T H E EAST AN D

.

O F B ARBAR O US NATI O N S .

Intro d u ction
The Go d s

The Higher D evelopment o f Egyptia n Re e

l i gi o n
A Reformation in the La nd o f Nile
'

The Eg yp tian Real m o f th e D ead

Th e Se c ret Teachin g o f the Priests o f Nile
20

8 B abylon and Ninive

. 26

9 Zoroaster and the Persian s

.
3
IO B lrah m an s an d! B uddhi st s
.
33
I I Secret League s o f B arbarous Peop les
.
36
—
PART S EC O N D TH E GRECIAN M Y STERI ES
AN D TH E R O MAN BAC CHANALIA .

I H ellas
.

2 H elleni c D ivine Worshi p

.

3 T
.h e H e l l e n i c Mysteries
4 T
. h le Ele u sinian M ysteri es

5 Th
. e Mysteri es of Samothrace
6 Th e Mysteries o f Crete
.

7 The
. D ionysia
8 The Ro man B acchanalia
.

9 D eb a s ed My s teries from the East

.

V D ! .
 vi CON TE NTS

PART TH I R D —TH E P Y THAG O REAN L EAGUE

AN D O T H ER S E C RET ASS O CIAT I O NS .

I . Pythago ras .

2 . The P yth ago rean s t

.

3 Th e O.rp h i c i
4 . Mysterious Personages of An cient Times .

PART F O URTH — S O N O F MAN . . S O N O F GO D .

I . H elleni sm and J udaism 9 1

2 .

94
3 Ch ri stianism
.

9 6
4 J esus
. .

5 The
. Early Ch risti ans
6 Th e N e w Testament
.

7 The Elements of the Churc h

.

P A RT
fi FI FT H —A PSEUD O M ESSIAH
.
-
. A L Y I NG
PR O PH ET .

I . A po llonius of Tyana
2 . Alexander the Fal se Prophet
,

PART SI XT H —TH E K N I GH TS T EM PLAR .

I . The M iddle Age

2 .

3 . Th e S e c rets o f the Tem p lars

The D ownfall o f the Knight s Templar
'

4 .

PART S EV ENTH —TH E . F E M GE RI C H TE .

I . Courts o f J ustice in the M iddle Age

2 . The Se c ret Tribunal
3 . Th e End of the Fe m e
 C ONTE N TS v1i

P A RT EI GHTH —
‘

STO N EMAS O N S L O D GES O F

.
’

TH E M I D D LE AGE .

P A GE

I . M edieval Arc hi t ecture 1 62

2 . The Stonem as o n s Lo dge s o f Ge rmany

’
1 64

3 . Frenc h Craftsmen 1 69

4 . The E ngli s h Stonemason s 1 72

ASTR O L O GERS AN D A L C H ElM I S TS 1 74

PART N I NTH . RI S E AN D C O N STIT UTI O N O F

-

FREEMAS O N R Y .

1 . Rise o f Freemason ry
2 . Constit u tion of th e O rder
3 . The Lodge

PART TENTH .
—
S O CI ETI ES O F TH E
SECRET
EI GH TEENTH C ENTURY .

I M i scellaneous Secret Societies

.

2 O b scurantist I nfluen ces

.

“ ”
3 Th. e H igh D egrees S w m d l e

4 Apostles
. o f Non sense
5 The
. Sw e dish Rite
6 The N ew Ro s i cru s i an s
.

PART ELEVEN TH —TH E I LLUM I NATI .

‘

I The I ll u minati
. 216

2 I mitation s of I lluminism
. 2 26

PART TWELFTH —S E C RET S O CI ETI E S

.
‘

OF
VARI O US KI N D S .

1 . Societies o f Wits
2 . I mitation s o f Ancient Mystic Leagu es
3 . Imitations o f Freemasonry
 M Y S TE R I A .

P AR T F I R S T .

My s t e ri e s of th e Ea s t an d o f B a r b a r o us

N a ti o n s .

1 . I N T R O D U CT I O N .

I n al l ages myste ry has had a spe c ial attraction for

mankind . Curiosity i s innate in us The c hild ask s .

abo u t every thin g What is this what is it for why i s it

, . ,

made so o r so ? The c hild fairly harries its parents with

,

q uestions never wearies o f rai sin g new o nes o ften so u n

, ,

expected and so d i fficult that it would p uzzle the wisest

,

p h i l c s c p h e r to answer them An d thi s instinct

. of i n

qui ry i s dominant in the adult to o The grown man ,

.
‘

wants to know what is to b e fo und behind eve ry c urtain ,

every locked door in every sealed letter

, And when .

sated with such t ri fl e s he must p u sh in q uiry further into ,

the infinite ; must lift the veil that hides th e wo ndrou s

image at Sais ; mu st pluck from the forb idden tree o f
kno wledge t h e tempting golden fruit H e would with .

the Titans st o r m heaven and as c end to heights where

,
“

stirs no breath of air where stands the boundary stone

,
-

”
o f cre ation .At last wh en Faust after manifold crosses ,

and disappointmen ts sees that we c an know nothing

“
,
”
,

the thought c onsumes the heart within him

“ ”
.

And so we must e v er b e worried b y the reflection

2 M Y S TE R I A

that the great riddle o f existence will not b e solved ; nay ,

never can be solved Why we ask why does an ything

.
, ,

exist at all and what doe s exist when c e c omes it and

?
, ,

whither does it go ? A n d though o c eans o f ink were

written on world s o f paper to define the relation b etween
th e H ere an d B e y on d we sho u ld not know after it all
, , ,

the lot o f the thought endowed tenant of the narrowest

-

human b rain case after its term of living is reached Never

-
.

shall we be able to c omprehend Being as having a b egin

ning and an end but neither shall we ever understan d
,

how without b eginning or end it m ay endure for ever

, , ,

and extend limitless ever farther and farther into th e

shoreless o cean o f the All The thinker must by forc e
.

refrain himself fro m such inference lest his b rain should ,

b e seized by delirium ; and the p rogressive man of action

turns to w hat i s sure and clear and un derstandable while ,

t h e listless disciple o f B uddha desp airing o f ever co m

,

p rehending existence longs for nirvana the s o ul s state

, ,
’

o f everlasting rest and freedo m fro m cares .

M ankind then is encompassed by a vast mystery

, ,

whi c h never has b een dis c overed though it p resses upon ,

u s w ith force all around and t h ough we kno w it exists

,

an d are c ons c ious that it attends us at every s tep we take .

B ut m an is too pr e nd to endure the tho ught that anything

i s b eyond his powers : m an must in all t hings do wh at
t h e p ri mordial c r eative p ower does The Eternal In .

co mp rehensi b le c reated worlds that no mo rtal eye c an

see : man with the help o f glasses sees the m The Eternal .

set worlds c ircling around worlds in such wise that for

l on g we mo rtals were led into error and took the ,

earth to b e the c entre of the universe : b ut m en m ade cal

c u l at i o n s and measurements and discovered that their
,

giant sphere was b ut a grain of sand among colos sal

 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E EA ST 3

worlds The Eternal caused mo untains to rise and rivers

.

to flow man too p i l e d up mountains and scooped out

'

, , , .

river beds and seas I mmense o c eans separated th e con

-
.

t i n e n t s : man navigated the oceans and discovered shores

never seen before The lightning issuing fro m the.
,

clouds rend s as u nder great trees that have stood fo r cen

,

t u ri e s : man imitates the lightning and employs the elec ,

tric current for sendin g messages acro ss continents an d

o ceans and fo r illumination . Steam va p or o f water he
, , ,

harnesses to his car o r employs it t o p rop el ship s acros s ,

the seas H e takes the sun s rays and makes o f them a

.
’

limner s p en cil Even the Eternal himsel f man fashion s

’
.

after his own thoughts and gives to him a name and at ,

tributes a throne an d a court a form and even a son

, , ,
.

And lest he should in any point fail of a c ting like the

Unse archable man sets over against the grand eve rl as t
,

ing mystery of creation and eternity which h e cannot

com p rehend other mysterie s of his o wn invention —the
,

mys t ery of the I ncarnation the Resurre c tion Re d e m p

ti o n the Trinity and the rest ; and re q uire s his fellow m
, ,

, , en

to acknowledge and reverence these things as mysterie s ,

and to worship as truth what man s own self con c eit has ’
-

devised in rival ry with the Eternal .

’
Thus are mysterie s of man s invention propagated
fro m generation to generatio n The love o f myste ry is .

contagious ; the o ne who hears o f mysteries will himsel f

invent more and with them impo se upon others And
, .

the Initiates shut themselves up in se c ret ch ambers swear ,

fearful oaths never to b etrav to anyone what others know

already employ emblems which they interp ret in one
,

sen se o r another speak in language p ec u liar to them

,

selve s exchan ge sp ecial signs wi th one another w

, hisp er ,

to each other mysteriou s words admit persons to their ,

4 MY S TE R I A '

secret asso ciations with direful or with harmless tests an d

rites and form aristo cracies o f intellect of c reed or o f
, , ,

b enevolence o f art or o f scie nce even o f humo r and o f

, ,

f o lly Such i s the o rigin o f mystic tea c h i ngs and se c ret

.

so cie t ies the teachings designed to hold the so cieties

,

together and the societies to propagate the teachi n gs

,
:

one hand washes th e o ther I n all ages am ong all races

.
,

we find these m ysteries existing under the mo st various

form s and for ends the m o st diverse but they all have
, ,

this i n c o m mon that they s hut out the p ro fane (outsiders) ,

and that their end is to wi n and hold p ow er and influence .

B ut they have also had seconda ry aims such as co uld

b e attained without secret doctrines o r secret asso ciation ;
an d these aims ha v e b een o f all kinds Now the p ur .

p ose may b e to pro mote social freedom an d religious o r

scientific enlightenment a no n to rep res s these ; again it
, ,

may b e to enrich th e members o r on the o ther hand

, , ,

to stimulate them to self s acri fi c i n g charity ; o r a society

-

will have for its ob j ect the B eautifu l and will create works
,

o f art to glorify the Eternal b u t another society will de

,

s p ise whatever i s ideal profe ssing contempt for the wo rld

,

and the m selves ; o r th e aim may be nothing short o f the

destruction of all human so ciety and a return to Chao s .

A variegated picture and full o f life ! At the head

of the moving pro cession stal k p riests in lo ng robes ,

begarlanded carrying the sacred image o f I sis o r chant

,

ing hymns to the Eleusinian D emeter Then come the .

wild eyed troop s o f the B acchan tes and in sharp contrast

-
,

to these p hiloso p hers o f the P y thagorean League in

, ,
'
white c loaks looking down o n the p opula c e with a smile
,

o f mild scorn ; after these the u n p retending E ssenes who ,

shoulder the cro s s of su ffering the Roman b rotherhoo ds

,

( collegia ) and,
th en the English and German gilds o f
 M YS T E R I E S O F
’
TH E E A ST 5

stonemasons with hammer compass and square ; the

, , ,

Knights Temp lar in white cloaks blazoned wi th the red

,

cross their haughty mien b etraying conte m pt of all au

,

t h o ri ty ; the Fathers of th e Company of J esus in black ,

—
casso c k and four cornered hat eyes sanctimoniously
‘

-
,

do wn cast every man o f them a c orp se in th e hand s o f

,

his superiors ; then c ome seigneurs and scholars and men

o f eve ry condition in white aprons and blue ribbon s , an d
,

last o f all an indistinguishable multitude of v ariously clad -

fi gures Let us contem p lat e the several groups o f this

.

pi c ture . First the p riests o f the s o called heathen re

,
-

l i gi o n s o f antiquity Here we h ave m en using a: twofold

manner o f sp eech To the p eople they gave o ut a teach
.

ing di fferent from that communicated to the Initiates of

their secret asso ciations their m ysteries H ow came ,
.

that about how i s it ac c ounted for and h o w can it b e

,
.
,

j usti fi ed ?
2 . TH E GO D S .

To answer these question s we m ust s tudy the o rigin

o f religi ous ideas an d the forms they assumed in di fferent
periods H ere we meet a phase o f thought whi c h stands
.

related to the vai n attempts to fathom the Eternal to ,

scrutinize the Unsearchable and whi c h therefo re i s , , ,

’
necessarily connected with the earliest exp res sion o f man s
love o f the mysteri ous .

In the dim ages before the dawn o f civilization when ,

the c ave dweller or t h e lake dweller had c o mpleted hi s

-
,
-
,
'
day s work and h i s c h i l d re n were in safety for the night
, ,

and their hunger stilled then in the gl ad co nsciou s ne s s , ,

o f duty dis c harged he would rise ab ove mere s ense and

, ,

would contemplate his surroundings with greater atten

tion than would b e p ossible a m id his hard la b o rs as b read
6 M Y S TE R DA
I

winner Th en surely what m o st p rofoundly i m p ressed

.
, ,

his i maginatio n was the b lue vault o f the sky acro ss

whi c h b y d ay t h e sun sour c e of light and warm th o r of
, ,

b lazing and s c orc hing heat and at night th e m ild fac ed,
-

m oon diffusing her W it ching b ea m s and the innu m era b le

, ,

twin kling stars glided in strange unalterab le series B e .

neath the ar c h lay extended the surrounding country and ,

the m an gaz ed on the diversified p anorama o f sno w

decked alp roaring cataract mi rror like l ake and ver
, ,
-
,

dant daisy ge mm ed p rairie-

O r h e c onte m plate d th e
.

tossi n g billows o f the sea the dread pheno m ena o f the

,

thunder clap an d the lightning flash the ravages o i the ,

h urri c ane the c rash o f mountain s rent b y intern al force s

, ,

t h e pitiless headlong sweep of the river that has over

,

fl o we d the plain .

These m anifestations o f the for c es of n ature whether ,

winso me o r fe arsome i mpressed the man ; an d ac kn o wl

,

edging hi s nothin gness and i mpoten ce he p ro strated

hi m self b efore them and wo rshiped them B ut i n wor .

shiping the forces o f nature h e must needs think o f them ,

as a personality ; and the p roce ss of personification n ec es

s ari l y b egan with the p henomena whi c h p ossess the m o st

p ronounced individuality viz on the earth ro cks moun

,
.
, , ,

tains trees animal s rivers lakes ; in the sky the sun

, , , , , ,

moon an d stars ; between earth an d sky the c louds winds

, , , ,

thunder and li gh tning ; finally fire th e p roduction of

which was the first step in hu m
, , ,

an culture .

The further o b servation o f nature led man fro m

articular to general concepts : those were for m ed more
p
easily these we re hard to compass and to understand
, ,

their imp o rt required a greater power o f reflection .

Mythology had its origin in the simple worship of na

ture and in thi s wi s e
, .
 M YST E R I E S O F ’
TH E E A ST 7

I n th e mind o f the man who knows noth i ng o f the

true rela t ions o f the heavenl y b odies all existen c e must b e ,

divided into two princi p al categories heaven overh ead

earth underfoot Heaven and Earth —that is th e b egin
, ,

ning o f all mythologies and cosmogonies H eaven and .

Earth are for the I sraelite the fi rst work s o f the Eternal ;
“ ”
for the Chinese they are father and mother of all things ;
for the H ellene s and the Teuton s the fi rst divine b eings
( Urano s and u aea Wodan and Ertha ),
As men fu rther .
.

considered the q uestion how thi s whole s c ene o f nature ,

both in i ts grateful and in its terri b le aspects came to b e , ,

H eaven and Earth were regarded as sexed beings H eaven ,

as fructify ing no b le lofty male controlling the light ning

, , , ,

and thunder ; Earth as p rolific conce p tive passive female , , ,

.

Heave n and Earth formed a union and Sun M oon and , , ,

Stars were reputed their c hildren Among the heavenly .

bodies the first p lace i s held by the S u n go d of day who , , ,

at h i s rising in the East b y magi c power co mpels hi s

b rother and sister deities to o b ey him : he reign s alone in
a sea of light and splendor Sister and c onsort of the .

S u n is the Moon and the co urse of thes e! two across the

,

heavens their risin g and their setting their shining and

, ,

their ob scuration are the source o f endless fan c iful m yt hs :

in these myths however there are fre q u ent transform a
, ,

tions the same hero b eing now the Sun again H eaven
, , ,

and the same heroine being now the Moon anon the ,

Ea rth And phantasy dis c overed in Sun and Moon so

.

many diverse properties that it separated these from o n e

an o ther and by degrees formed out of them distinct p e r
,

s o n al it i e s.The Sun ri sing out of the ocean and again

,

sinki n g into it became Po seidon ( Neptune ) and the i n

, ,

visible Sun that through the night tarries in the under

Wor1d b ec a m e g o d of the world o f shades Pluto ; an d so
'

,
8 M YlS TE B lI A
'
' ‘ ’

W l t ll other phenomena o f the sun Th e Mo o n t o o i n .

, ,

her di fferent forms o f waxin g full and waning moon , , ,

rising and setting moon gives rise to group s o f t h ree o r

,

four sisters ( Gra c es Fates Furies) and to many other

, , ,

forms o f g oddesses and these are sad austere chaste o r

,
. .
, , ,

alluring winsome complaisant ; or the M oon assumes the

, ,

fo rm o f some fair daughter o f man who b eing loved b y , ,

some god become s mother o f gods and hero es

, H en ce .

god desc ende d races and dynasties whose fortunes and

-
,
.

wars are the subj ect of epics tragedies and romances and , , ,

the innumerable ho st o f the stars in the fanciful shap e s ,

in whi c h i magination grouped the m a fforded i n ex ,

h au s t i b l e m aterial for sto ry an d myth H ere was see n a .

'

herd faith fully guarded by th e herdsman there a chas e ,

conducted b y b old hunters or a comp any of dari ng mar ,

i n e rs goin g to win the golde n fleece o r t h e golden ap p les ,

o f the H esp erides o r the thousand eyes o f the wat c hful

,

Argus O n the mantle o f the go ddess of ni ght phantas y

.

saw pictured Aries Taurus Cap ricornus Cap ella Ursus

, , , ,

M aj or O rion B ootes D ra c o H er c ules and all the other

, , , , ,

fi gures o f the endless we b o f p oesy in whi c h are told the

wondrous d ee d s o f gods and hero e s .

S u c h is the light in whi c h m ytholo gy app eared when ,

in th e be g innings o f sci entifi c inquiry the forces o f n ature ,

Were p ersoni fi ed As c enturies p assed the true sense of

.

these myths tran smitted from father to son was lost an d

, , ,

the whole was taken to b e a c tual fa ct B ut the m as ter .

m i n ds discerned th e tru e state o f the case and soo n re

‘

gained the real meanings Su c h men as Aristotle P l u

.
,

tarch and others o ften told in their writings what they

,

thought regarding the traditions b ut not so the wily ,

p riests within the walls of th e temples Their se c ret do c .

trines dou b tless c o n veyed a m o re o r le s s rational i sti c i n

 M
'
YST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 9

o f the myths and a p urer th eolo gy though

t erp re tati o n ,

it m u st be admitted that in o rder to guard the mysteries

,

of the secret associations and to save the priesthoo d ,

from becoming superfluous this teaching was tricked out ,

in mysticism symbolism and allego ry ; and ab ove all that

,

it was accom p anied by certai n dramati c rep resentatio ns

and certain moralizing ceremonies , .

Th e co u ntries o f anti q uity whereo f we know with

certainty that they p o ssessed m ysteries i e secret as
“ ”
, . .
,

sociations un der p riestly g u idance are Egypt Chaldaea , , ,

and G ree c e .

3 . EG YP T .

As the sourc es o f the Nile were undi s covered till a

very recent da t e so do the sources o f Egyp tian civiliz a
,

tion remain hidden still We know fairly well how the

.

population o f Egypt was m ade up I t consisted of an .

aboriginal sto ck who se p hysi cal characters as given in

, ,

writings or in s c ulptures show that it was of negro origin

, ,

and o f a conquering p eople belon ging to the same race

as the inhabitants of Europe in high anti quity : thi s race

invaded the Nile land p rob ably fro m Asia made them ,

selves m asters o f it an d i n time mingled with the ab o

i

ri g i n es
. The great moving cause of Egy p tian civiliza
tio n was always the Nile called in Egypt H api ; for the
,

Nile was th e e ssential factor by the annual overflow o f ,

its fertilizing waters in S u mmer and A ut m n in deter ,

mining the conformation o f the land the climate the sea , ,

sons and con s e quently the manners and usages o f the

, , ,

inhabitants . Hence in the language o f the natives ,

Egy p t was called Ke m t the dark land b ecause of the

, ,

ri c h dep osits of loam left after the floods o f the Nile .

B ut this na m e attac hed only to t h e Nile valley ,

10 M Y S TE lR l A

b ounded on the East and West b y stony deserts which ,

the Egyptian s did not reckon as belonging to thei r coun

try The Semites called the land M i sr or M i s rai m ; the
Greeks gave first to the river then to the region the nam
.
,

e , ,

Egypt (on what ground s we know not) and finally to ,

the river the n ame N e il o s It has ever been a land of .

enigmas this N e a d Whence co mes its river

,
i l l n .
? Why
does it overflow the country in Summer and A u tumn ?
Why t hose mighty pyramids ? What were the doings in
those temples planted so clos e together
,
? What mean
tho se strange ch aracters the hiero glyph s ? W hy do the
-

go ds wear heads o f ani mals and why on the oth er hand , , ,

have the sp hinxes a human head o n a lion s body ? ’

I n order to exercise undisp uted mastery over the

c ountry the con querors divided among themselves all .

the l an d and all the authority They fo rmed two 'heredi .

tary classes or estates Priests who controlled the minds

-
, ,

an d Warri ors who controlled the b odies of the con quere d

,

peop le O f the subj ect race there were several classes

.
,

most p rob ably six though the ac c ounts we h ave are

,

mutually contradictory These classes are : Artists me

.
,
~

c h an i c s traders m ari ners agriculturists herdsmen ; in

, , , ,

the latter clas s o f th e s wineherds mo st des p is e d o f all ,

Egyptians b e c ause o f the uncle an animal whi c h they

,

tended .

Now while the warrior class had th e manage m ent

,

of military a ffairs and th e executive governmen t and as a ,

rule supplied th e oc c upants of the th rone ,the p riests pos

sessed the legal lore and the scientifi c knowledge and ,

p rescribed to the people what they must believe while ,

among themselves and in the company o f I nitiates they

thought very di fferently .

The Egyptian religio n has its foundation in astro n

 MY STE R I E S
’

OF TH E E A ST 11

o my
. Th e regular o ve rfl ow o f the Nile , whi c h -involv ed
a p re c ise divi sion o f the year into seasons must at an ,

early p eriod have led to a diligent ob servation o f the

co u rse o f the stars in order to make timely prep aration
,

for the floods ; and the splendor o f the starry sky in th a t

n e ar the tropics where hardly a single c o n s t el
'

re g i o n , ,

lation is out o f sight through the whole year favored ,

the study of astronomic science : The Egyptians con

t e m p l at e d the glories o f the heavens not with the stolidity ,

o f the Chinese who therein see only ob j ects to b e c ounted

,

and m easured ; nor yet with the idealist i m agination o f

Europeans H en c e their p e rs o n ifi cat i o n s of the world
.

o f stars are uncouth confused without grace or charm

, ,
.

The heavenly body that for us is mightiest o f all ,

the sun must have been for t h e Egyptians the most an

,

cient and the mightiest o f gods Their sun go d was .

-

named Re .B ut even as among the H ellenes so in ,

Egyp t the several attribute s o f the sun were assigned

to di fferent p ersonalities Thus the rising sun as the .
, ,

youthful warrior go d H oro s was early distinguished from

-
,

Re ; over against H oro s stoo d his opposite and his tw in

brother Set s p iri t of darknes s For mothers the sun
, ,
.

go d had I sis H athor and N e i t goddesses of heaven To

, , , .

these deities were added Aah the mo on g o d and the gods ,

-
,

o f the several stars and constellations B esides these .

gods of the whole land particul ar p laces and regions h ad

,

their own gods ; thus Ptah was lo rd and god o f Me m phis ’

A m on o f Theb es and so o n ,
.

V ery often c ertain worship ful ob j ects as trees an d ,

animals inhabited by s p irits were develo p ed into local ,

deities In this way the feti chism o f the black aboriginal

.

p eople got ent ry into the more cultured religion o f the

li ght c omplexioned c onquerors and had a very powerful

-
,
 '
12 M Y S TE R I A
'

i nfluen c e on it Few were the indigenous animals that

.

were not worshiped in one place o r in many as the wrap

p ages o f deities That worship was p aid to animals not:

for their o wn sake i s b e st seen from the way in w h ich ,

the gods are p ortrayed namely for the mo st part with a , ,

h u m an body and the head o f the animal sacred to them ,

tho u gh in some cases entirely in h u man form Thus .

Amon god o f Thebes has the head o f a ram H athor of

, , ,

Anut the head o f a c ow Anubis that o f a j ackal Bast , ,

that o f a cat Sechet o f a lioness Sebak o f a cro codile

, , ,

and so on And inasmu c h as it was believed that gods

.

dwelt in them such animals were themselves made o b

,

j s o f worship ; for exam p le the ox H ap i ( Gr A p is) at

e c t ,
.

Memphis the goat at M endes and so fo rth Thi s honor

, , .

b elonged to the entire sp ecies and as representing the ,

species certain individual animals were maintained in the

,

temples by the contributions of the faithful and had ser ,

vi to rs to wait up on them Any harm done to these .

fetiches was sternly p unished : to kill one of them was

death Not so when a god did not grant the p rayers o f
.

the faithful e g for rain : in that c ase the priests made

,
. .
,

the feti ch pay t h e p e n al tv First they threatened the ani .

,

mal b ut when menaces were vain they killed the sacred

, ,

b east though in secret ; the people must not know of it

,
.

4 . TH E HI G H E R DE V E L O P M E NT OF EG Y P TI A N
R E LI G I O N .

As Eg yp t advan c ed in c ivilization and the govern

ment b e c ame more con centrated the lo c al deities and ,

z a o l at ry were les s regarded while the light gods the sun ,

-
,

go ds Re and H c ro s with thei r asso ciate deities became

, , ,

m or e p ro m inent The lives and fo rtunes of these light .

\
 M YST E R I E S O F‘

TH E E A ST 13

gods and in p articular their wars with the powers o f

,

darkness be c ame the sub j ect o f myths Th e inhabitants

,
.

’
o f the Nile valley imagined to themselves the sun s course
not as the p ro g ress o f a c hariot like that in which the
Mithra o f th e Persians and the H elio s o f the G reeks
were bo rne b ut as th e voyage of a Nile b ark o n which
,

Re navi g ates the o cean of the heavens I n the b attle with .

d ark Set he f alls and dro p s into the netherwo rld in the
West b u t the youthfu l H oro s sun g o d of the coming
, ,
-

day takes hi s p lace and be gin s hi s career across the sky

,
.

Thi s ever rej uvenescent sun god who through all trans
- -
,

formations rem ai n ed still the same deity so that the sel f ,

same goddess was now hi s mother ano n hi s c onsort was , ,

so truly the supreme god nay the sole god of Egypt , , ,

that his hieroglyph the sp arrowhawk came to b e the , ,

.

“ ”
sign of the i d ea god and in w ritin g that sign was at ,

t ac h e d to the name s of g o ds to indicate that they were

such O n the oth er hand the name s o f the m
. others and ,

c c n s o rt s of the sun gods had a p p ended to them the sign -

for a cow
"

Fro m thi s it i s seen that the reli gi on o f N i l el an d

’

—
that is to say the reli g ion o f the p riests was slowly pro
,

gres s in g toward monotheism Unlike the beliefs o f the .

co mmonalty the secret teachin g s or m y ste ries o f the

,

pri e sts as gradually develo p ed re g arded not simply the

, ,

existence o f the g ods but above all what th e gods stoo d , , .

for For a while thi s develo p ment halted at the sun god
.
-
,

and reached its first sta g e in the city Anu ( in lower Egypt) ,

called by the Greeks H elio p olis ( city o f the sun ) where ,

they incorp orated the god o f the p lace Tu m in the s u n , ,

god Re This to ok p l ac e under the fo u rth dynas ty

.
,

whose monarchs b u ilt the great p yramids o f Ghizeh a t

Me m p his B ut one o f the g reatest o f these transfo rma
.
H M Y S TE R I A

tion s was in givin g the name o f O siris g o d of the city ,

Ab du ( Gr Abydos ) in u pp er Eg yp t to the god of the

.
,

sun set ruler o f the n etherworld and o f the kingdom of

,

death I sis b ecame his sister and consort Set at once

.
,

hi s b rother and hi s slayer H oros his son who as a n ew , , ,

sun takes hi s p lace after sunset an d also his avenger on

, .

Set H oros gi ves Set battle but as h e cannot destroy

.
.

hi m utterly leaves to him the desert as a kingdom while

, ,

Ho ro s himself ho l d s the Nile valle y Thi s story of gods .

was rep resented scenically on p ublic holidays but only ,

the I nitiated i e the p riests and their followers who had

, . .
,

been let into the secret knew the meaning of th e rep re ,

s e n t at i o n Even the name of O siri s and his abode in the

.

realm o f th e dead were ke p t secret and o utsiders heard ,

“ ”
only o f the great god dwelling in the West B eside s .

the mysteries o f O siri s the mo st famo u s o f all there were, ,

other mysteries o f lo cal Egy ptian go ds transformed into

—
sun gods ; and so the sun mythos was further developed .

Thus Thot god of H ermopolis whose sacred animal

, ,

was the bird Ibis became H o ro s s auxiliary in the war,

’

with Set and also b e c ame the moon god th e go d o f eb ro

,
-
,

n o m e t ry and of order inve ntor o f wr iting reve aler of

‘

, ,

the sacred books M emphis alone ca p ital of the an cient

.
,

kingdom held her go d Ptah too exalted a b ein g to share

,

in the transformation o f the rest ; for Ptah was regarded :

by his worship er s as father o f al l g o d s creato r o f the '

world an d o f men and more an cient than Re ; besides he

, ,

was th e god of the royal court Nev ertheless he did not .

,

escap e th e fate o f becoming a sun — god The most cele .

b rat e d obj ect of Egy ptian zoolat ry was sacred to Ptah ,

namely Apis ( Hap i ) the sacred b ull of M emphis symb ol

, , ,

o f the sun and also o f the fructi fying N ile Thi s b ull .

must be b la c k with a white sp ot on the forehead and with ,

 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 15

a growth under the tongue having the fo rm o f the sacred ,

beetle The b ull was kep t in the temp le at Memp his

.

from calfhoo d till death ; the body was then mummified ,

laid out in state and honored with inscri p tions as a god

,
.

The behavior o f Apis in various con j unctures and cir ~

c u m s tan c e s was reputed to b e ora c ular .

An other for m o f the sun go d was the Sphinx a half -

,

human half brute figure in stone re p eated a t h ousand

,
-
,

times i n the Ni le valley The most famo u s sphinx o f all .

i s seen at the great p yramids of Ghizeh Regular avenues .

flanked by sphi nxes formed the appro ac he s Of the great

te mp les I n Egypt the sphinx was thought o f as male ;
.

the head was that of some king and the whole figure ,

represented the sun go d H armachis a name compounded

-
,

o f Re and Horos ( Ra H arm c h uti ) I n later times the

-
.

s p h inx was introduced in Asi a an d Greece ; the Grecian

sphi nx is always fe m ale .

When the local deities of Egyp t were redu c ed to

system Re was still sup reme but now Re had a father
, , ,

Nunu god of Chaos source of all being—c learly a p ro d

, ,

u c t o f priestly meditation q u ite alien to the pop ular mind ,

.

Re was the first divine r ul er o f the earth The stars .

were his c ompanions H e was succeeded by his son Shu

.

( re p resented w ith a lion s head ) go d of air w h o made the , ,

p pro s that sustain the sky Shu was followed b y the god .

Keb and th e goddess N u t p arents o f O siris and I sis who , ,

then beca m e the earth s rulers To them after S et s

’
.
,
’

u surp ation succeeded Horo s the avenger and the goddes s

,

H athor A se c on d clas s comp ri ses the inferior gods as

.
,

Thot Anubis et c ; and in a third class are the local

, ,

deities The numb er of gods and o f daemons subordinate

.

to them was enormous B u t in their gods the Egyptians .

looked not at all for the perfection o f goodness nor di d ,

 M Y S TE R I A
' '

they regard right b ehavior as essential for gainin g h e av

e mly favo r ; they rather looked on the p racti c es of religion
fra n kly as a mean s of advancing their individual interests
with the gods .

Now the greater the number o f go d s th e less was th e

,

di fferen c e between t h em ; a n d the e asier became the

tran sition to the b elief in the sun — go d as sup reme and
only true deity—a belief entertained b y the p ri esthood ,

not by the p eople Re b ecame for the p ri ests the one

.

god creator of the universe ; and this was due to the fact
,

tha t the p riests o f the foremost cities followin g th e ex ,

a m p le o i those o f H elio p olis p raised the lo cal god as ,

’

sup reme over all and at the s am e ti m e made him

,

ide n t ical with Re whose name was appended to the

,

original name thus T

,
u m —Re Amon Re,
When Thebe s ,
-
.

b ecame the capital o f the kingdo m its god Amon natu

rally too k the fo remost place and while Theb es flourished
, ,

in the beginning o f the s o called new em p ire it was -

,

known to al l Initiates that the sun go d was th e one true -

,
—
god self c reated sole obj ect o f the worship paid to the
,

innumerable host of other gods Nay the evil deity .

,

Set came to p ass fo r a form of Re and was allowed a ,

’
p lace in the Sun s bark Self creation was also attributed
.
-

to the m oon god The king as lord o f the whole country

-
.
, ,
'

p rayed in identical words in eve ry place to the lo cal deity

as lord of heave n and earth .

5 . A RE F O R M A TI O N I N TH E LA N D O F NIL E .

B ut now th e secret doctrine o f the priest s was to b e

published to the peo p le Th e p harao Amenhote p I V of
. .
,

the 1 8 th dynasty (about 1 460 B saw in the p ower o f .

t h e priesthood a menace to the dignity of the cro wn .

 MY STE R I E S O F TH E E A ST 17

H e therefore p ro c laimed as the sole god th e sun not ,

u n der any human form as had been the custom but in , ,

its o wn p roper shap e o f a disk ( in Egyptian aten) as , ,

had been the u sage at H elio p olis A menhotep ordere d .

all images o f other gods associated with the sun to b e

de s tro yed assumed for himself the n ame C h u e n at en
, ,

“
S p lendor of th e S und i s k q uit Thebes and built in
”
, ,

middle E gyp t east of the Nile a new royal seat Chut

, , ,
“ ”
aten abode of the S un d i s k
,
The p riests o f th e de .

po sed gods i n Thebes and in certain other cities (not in

all ) lo st their places and the great estates o f the priestly
,

corp orati ons were confiscated O f course the court o ffi .

cers and civil functionari es loyally followed th e e xam p le

of their master ; b u t only a very small fra ction o f the p riest
hood gave up their convictions for the sake o f livelihood .

H ardly was C h u e n at e n gathered to his fathers after

a reign of twelve years when his reform was undone ,
.

H is sons i n l aw who succeeded him ret u rned step b y

- -
, ,

step to the religion o f Amon and agai n fixed the royal ,

se at at Thebes ; nevert heless they we re held to be he retics ,

by the p riests now reinstated in their ancient power

.
.

The tem p le s e rected to the S u n d i s k we re leveled with the

gro u nd the hal f com p leted city o f the sun was obliterated
,
-
,

the co n fiscatio n o f the estates o f p riestly co rp orations re ~

versed and the tem p les images and p riesthood of Amon

, , ,

reinstated The intellectual life of Egyp t was thence

.

forth p aralyzed and the ancient mystic teachings o f the

,

p riests were never again disturbed by any wave o f move

ment or p rogress The people went back to stup id form
.

al i s m and sa n k even deep er into d ae m o n i s m an d sorcery

, .

To draw them awa y from the true god the p riests taught
them to worship deceased kings and q ueens at the same ,

time amusing them with gorgeous sacrifices p ro cessions ,

 M Y S TE R I A
-

and festivals The distance separating the pr i esthood

.

—
from the p eo p le and t h e Pharaos were hough not of
t
, ,

the p riestly class reckoned a s comp eers of the priests

, ,

was signalized by the temples with their v arious com

p ar t m e n t s i n t h e inmost o f which the holy of holies ,

( adyton ) ,
were guarded the mysteries o f the p riests while ,

the p eo p le were admitted only to the temple proper and

its forecourt I n all probability the famed Labyrinth near
.

Lake Mo eris at Crocodilopolis was desi gned for p ri estly

, ,

end s The laby rinth was an undergroun d maze of cham

.

bers . H erodotus tells that there were chamb ers

above gro und and as many under the surface and that ,

the u nderground chamb ers were not shown t o the p ro

'

fa n e for they contained the remains o f Pharao s an d o f

,

sacred cro codiles Not H erodot u s only b ut D i o d o ru s

.
, ,

Strabo and Pliny celebrate the glory o f thi s vast p alace

, ,

in who se hidden compartments no doubt fit quarters , ,

were foun d for the mysteries .

6 . TH E E G YP TI A N REA LM O F TH E D E A D

Finally the secret teaching of the priests played a

,
’
part in the people s ideas regarding death and the other
life According to the Egyp tian teaching man is made
.
,

u p o f three constituent p arts viz b esides the b o dy the ,

.
, ,

so u l (b a) conceived to be o f p urely material essence

, ,

which at death q uitted the body in the form o f a b ird ;

’

and the immaterial spirit (k a) which held to the man the ,

same relation a god held to the animal in which he dwelt :

at death the s p irit dep arted fro m the bo dy like the image
of a dream The gods too had their k a and their b a
.
, ,
.

The contin u ed existen c e o f both soul and sp irit was con

tingent on the care the corp se received ; if the k a and the
 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 19

ba were to live on the body must be embalmed and laid

,

in a chamber hollowed in a rock or i n a se p ulchral edifice

,

(o f su c h buildings the pyramids were the most notable ) ,

and the relative s must supply to the dead meat and drink
and c lothing The sp irit of the deceased went to O si ris
.
,

—
lord of the other world a luxuriant p lain (Aaru) in the
West where the earth s products required no toil but
,
’

gr w s p ontaneous By means of the magic form u la with

e .

whi ch H oros re called to life t h e slain O siris the dead is ,

not only in like manner re vi vi fi e d but is even made one ,

with O siri s ; and hence in the form u las of funeral service

— “
which constitute the s o called B ook o f th e D ead the ”
,

deceased i s addressed as O siri s with addition of his own

n am e Therefore he may now sail in the sun bark and
.
,
-
,

lead a glorio us life in the other world and walk amid the ,

stars like other gods The p ict u res on the walls of th e

.

se p ulchral chambers show that the Egy p ti an s conceived

the other life to b e much like the p resent only pleasanter ,

and fu l ler The deceased is p o rtrayed surro unded by

.

such en j oyments as were attainable in N il e l an d —b an

q u e t s property
,
the chase
,
voyaging music an d
,
the like , ,
.

B ut fro m the texts of the Boo k o f the D ead whi c h used

” “
,

to b e laid with the dead in th e se p ulchre we see that ,

these representations had a more sp iritual imp ort in the

“ ” “
middle than in the old em p ire I n these texts the .

deceased himsel f speaks identifying himself with some

,

god or with one go d after another ; no longer with O siri s

,

only for a c co rding to the develo p ed teaching o f that time

,

all the gods are one god The route of the dead toward
.

’
the other w orld is the sun s track fro m Ea st to West ; but
on hi s j ourney he needs the hel p o f th e sorcerer s art ’

agains t th e host of daemon s an d monsters that threaten

him Arrived there he acquires the power of revi siting
.
,
 M Y S TE R I A
'

the earth at will in the form of god man o r animal or , , ,

even should he so choose in his own former body At

, ,
.

this p erio d puppets made o f woo d or o f clay and sundry ,

tools and u tensils were laid in the grave with the dead
,
“ ”
for their se rvice Under the new emp ire the rep re
.
-

s e n t at i o n s of the other life and of the way thither are

uf o re detailed and more fanciful H ere t o o we find .

, ,
“
re p resentati ons o f the famous j udgment o f the d e ad an ,

event b elonging to the life b eyond and not as th e Greeks , ,

mi stak enly supposed to the p resent state and to the time

,

i mmediately b efore burial O siris presides over the tri .

—
bunal with two and forty assesso rs i n who se p resence the
- -

ne wcomer has to p ro ve himself guiltless of any one o f

- —
two an d forty sins thus for example : Never have I done
, ,

an in j usti ce never h ave I stolen never have I craftily

, ,

com p assed the death o f any man never have I killed any ,

sacred animal et c Y et all this was rather a magi c

, .

for m ula for attaining blessedness according to Egy p tian

notions than a tr u thful p rotestation of guiltlessness in
order to establish the po stulant s moral p u rity Never ’
.

'

t h e l e s s in a p icture o f the J udgment of the D ead in the

,
“ ”
B ook o f the D ead the deceased is bro ught by the god
dess o f truth and righteousness (M a) into the p al ace of
O si ri s and hi s sins and hi s good deeds are weighed in a
,

balan ce The hi pp op otamu s i s p resent as a cc user and t h e

.

god Thot as defender .

7 . TH E S E C R E T T E A C HI N G O F TTI E PR EI S TS O F
-

N ILE LAND .

Though from the foregoing we get a general notion

o r the relatio n between the priests and the people still ,

w e are n o t clear as to the n ature o f the s ecret teaching

 M YST E R I E S O F TH E E A S T 21

and the mode o f its o rganization H ere we have to d e .

pend almost entirely o n the accounts given by Greek

writers not al ways trustworthy and o n conj ecture or i n
, ,

ference .

Unquestionab ly the secret do c trine necessitated a

spe c ies o f se c ret society which presu m ably consisted o f
the higher o rders o f p riests and which comprised sub
,

divisions only 10 0 5 e held together I t is stated po si .

t i ve l y that the p harao for the time bein g was always

admitted to membership H ence the king was th e only
.

Egyptian o utside o f the p riestly order that was acquainted

with the secret do ctrine and thus was all danger o f b e
,

trayal at ho m e most e ffectually averted B ut as the p riests .

had less to fear in this regard from foreigners b ecause ,

foreigners went away again ; and as in the indo ctrination

o f forei gners the p riests saw an op p o rtunity for culti
vat i n g their own rep utation for erudition therefore they ,

o ften willingly admitted to initiatio n men of distinction

from abroad and esp ecially Greeks Among the fab ulous
, .

p ersonages who were believed to have b een impelled by

thirst for knowledge to visit Egypt there to learn the ,

secret wisdo m o f the p riests were the b ard s O rph eus

, ,

Musaeus and Homer ; among the histo ri c characters we re

,

the lawgivers Lycurgus and Solon the historian Hero d ,

otus the philosophers Thales Pythagoras Plato D e m o c

, , , ,

ritus the mathematician Archimedes and very many more

, , .

B ut it was not always easy fo r these to lift the veil

that h i d the mysteri es Pythagoras for example though
.
, ,

reco m mended by King A ah m e s (Am as i s ) applied in vain ,

to the p riests o f Heliopolis and Memphis and only after ,

he had su b mitted to the circumcision p rescribed fo r postu

lants did he receive from the p riests o f D iosp olis i n s tru c
tion i n th ei r rec ondit e s c ien c es .
 M FY S TE FR I A
'

22 ‘

In the form o f admission to thi s se c ret do c trine were

long and tedious b ut significant ceremo nies an d t he ,

Initiates had at certain inte rvals to ascen d a num b er of

degrees or stages of knowledge till they mastered the
, ,

sum o f the wi sdom t au gh t b y the p ries ts B ut with re .

gard to the mode o f this p rogression and the di fference

be t ween the degrees we have unfortunately no reliab le
testimony .

O f the c ontents o f the Egyptian se c ret teaching we

know little more than we do of its fo rm s fo r all Initiates ,

were pledged to stri ctest silen c e regarding the subj e c t mat

ter of in struction Y et we are not without scattered
.

hints fro m comp et ent authorities an d in the light of these ,

we cannot go se riousl y astray According to the G reek .

historian D i o d o ru s who lived in the time o f J ulius Caesar

,

and Augustus and who had himself b een initiated in

,

Egypt O rp heus or rather th e O rphic m y s tae named after

, ,

him owed the Grecian mysteries to the p ri ests o f E gypt ;

,

and to the same source were Ly curgus and Solon b e

h o lden for their legislation Pytha goras and Plato for ,

their philosophical systems and Pythagoras furthermore ,

for his m athematical knowledge and D emo critus for his ,

astronomi cal do ctrine Now as for the exact sciences

.
,

here m e n tioned the Egyptian secret teaching c ould not

,

h ave co mpris e d anything therean ent whi ch was not at

t ai n ab l e b y anybod y with the s cienti fi c help s o f the time ;
n or anything in the way o f as t ro n o m i c knowledge not re
.

lating to the calculation o f time ; and i f with regard to thi s

kn o wledge nothing funda m ental was taught to the p eople ,

then that was a base huckstering o f mysteries and not a

secret teaching As for legislation the systems of Ly
.
,
~

e u rg u s and Solon di ffer so much from e ach oth er an d are ,

so p ron o uncedly Sp artan an d Ath enian resp ectively, in ,

 M Y ST E R I E S O F '
TH E E A ST 23

spirit that from them we cannot infer w h at the tea c hi ng

,

was in that department The Probability i s that the two

.

Grecian lawgivers merely used the Egyptian laws as a basis ,

an d for the rest adapted their ideas to the needs o f their

res p ective countries . Nor is it to be assumed that b e

cause th e Egyptian p riests w ere al so j udges therefo re ,

their ideas o n legislation which assuredly the y m ust have

,

applied freely and above board belonged to their ,

mysteri es .

Fro m the hierogly p hic remains however it app e ars , ,

that there existed in E gypt high grade schools c ondu c ted

-

b y the priests, and hence we may infer that in these i n

s t i t u t i o n s the Greek searchers after knowledge obtaine d

instruction in lawgiving and in the exact scien c es of the

E gyptians .

It is true that the h ieroglyp hs a sp ecies o f Egyptian

,

writing which consisted o f figu re s o f actual ob j ec ts were ,

known only to the p riests ; b ut in early times that was so

only because th e rest o f the p eople could not read and
write . After ward there was a special p op ular form o f
wri t i n g (demotic ) de rived from the hieroglyphs and re
sembling an earlier abb reviated form o f hieroglyphi c _ _

writing the hieratic or writing o f the p riests

, .

It is di fferent with philo so p hical and religious spe c ul a r

ti on in which p ositive unimp eacha ble con c lusions su c h

, ,

as may b e had in the exa c t sciences are out o f th e ques ,

tio n and which has no p ractical appli c atio n as i n j uri s

,

p ruden ce an d d i p l o mati c s ; wh i c h in fa ct gi ve s p l ay
rather to h y p o th esi s and arbitrary opinion to m
l , ,

ysticism ,

and sy m bolism This therefore was th e subj e c t matter

.
, ,

of the teach ing conveyed to Initiates in the Egyptian

m y steries b ut fo r go od reason s then wi thheld from the
,

vul ga r, b ecau s e h ere th e ve ry existen c e o f th e pri estly

24 M Y S TE R I A

clas s was at stake : the priesthoo d would lose all its i m

portance once the p eople were aware that th e p riests had
n o regard for the received reli gi on .

H en c e there i s no doubt that the s e c ret doctrine of

the Egyptian priests was at once philo sophi c and reli
gio n s ; that is that it tested the traditional belief analyzed
, ,

it and ac c epted what it fo und to b e reasonabl e and re

,

j e c t e d wh at appe ared irrational ; and it was sharply dis

t i n g ui s h e d fro m the p o p ular belief which took tradition ,

for ab solute and indubitable truth .

W hat then were th e principles underlying the philo

, ,

sophic religion o f the Egyptian p ri ests ? Putting aside

all arbitrary and fi n e drawn theories we infer fro m various
-
,

clear indication s that it was o f a monothei stic character ,

i e that it po stulated one personal go d and that it re

. .
, ,

j e c t e d p ol y theism an d zoolatry as well as the material ,

i s t i c c onceptions o f the p op ular creed with regard to what

takes p lace after death I ndeed we hold it not i m p ro b
.
,

able th at the secret do ctri ne was o ften more radical than

the views o f the royal refo rmer Amenhotep I V or Chuen .
,

aten and that unlike him the p riests b elieved the tru e
, , ,
’
god to b e not a material thing the sun s di sk but the u n
, , ,

se e n c reato n himself cal led by them Nunu father o f Re

, , ,
“
an d so urce o f all t hi ngs Thus we find i n the B ook of
-
.

”
the D ead and in lat er writings mention o f a demiurge
( or ar c hitect ) o f t h e universe ”
to who m no sp ecial divine
,

name i s given Plutar c h to o in his ingenio us work

.
, , ,
“
O f I sis and O siris ( c c 67 ”
says : The go dhead
.
,
“

i s not any m indless or soulless c reature subj ect to m an ,

“
an all u sion to zo olatry ; and again : There is only one
rational b eing that o rders all things b ut one ruling p rovi ,

dence and subordinate p owers which are set over the s e v

,

eral thin gs an d wh i c h i n di ffer ent n ation s re ceiv e th ro ugh

 M YST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 25

tradition al u s age distin c tive worship and distin c t ive appel

,

l at i o n s And hen ce Initiates employ now symbol s ob scure

.
,

anon more obvious whereb y they guide th e understanding ,

t o the divine b eing yet not without danger o f falling into

,

the mire of superstition or the abyss o f unbelief There .

fore must one take philo sophy for his m ystagogue (guide
t o the mysteries) in order to have a true understanding
,
”
o f all the teachings and all the rite s o f the mysteries .

The belief in one p ersonal creator having b een ac :

e cp t ed the Egyptian mytholo gy was n aturally declared

,

erroneous and its true signifi c ation was expounded by

,

the p riests to th e initiat ed That thi s inte rp retation o f

.

the m y ths as allegorical ac c ounts o f p ersonified natural

pheno m ena was the essential p art o f the m ysteries a pp ears
fro m the testimonies o f learned Greeks som e o f them ,

”
Initiates e g Plutarch ( I si s and O siris c 3 ) writes :
, . .
,
“
, .

“
Not the white vest u re and th e shaven b eard make the
servant o f I sis : he alone is truly that who receives due ,

instruction upo n: the rite s and ceremonies used in that

divine servi c e who investigates j udi ciously and medi
, ,
”
tates upon the truth therein contained Again ( c 8 ) . .

“
There i s in the rites of the Egyptian p riests nothing i rra
t i o n al n othing fa b ulous or superstiti ous
, I nstead o f .

i rrat i c n al i ty we fi nd p rinciples an d prece p ts o f morali ty ;

instead o f fable and sup erstition authenti c history an d ,
”
A n d c 9 : The i m age o f t h e go ddes s
“
facts of nature . .

N e i t at Sai s reg arded also as the image o f I sis bears this

, ,

in scri p tio n : I am the All that was that is that is to be ;

‘

, ,

my veil no m o rtal has ever raised Finally c 1 1 : When

“
.
’
, .

we hear the Egyptian m yth s o f the gods their wand e ring ,

about their dismem b erm ent and sundry other like in c i

,

dents we must re c all the remarks already made so as to

, ,

understand th at th e s t o ri e s told are no t t o b e taken

 M Y S TE R I A x

literal l y as rec o unti ng a ctual o cc urren c es The m ore .

cautious H erodotus ( I I 6 1 ) agrees with Plutarch tho u gh ,

he exp re s ses himself more enigmati cally : O n th e fe s ti val ‘

o f I sis in the c ity of B ub as t i s after the sacrifice al l both

, ,

m en an d wo men thousands o f them b eat them s elve s B ut

, ,
.

for me to name the one for whose sake they b eat them
”
selves were impiety .

All the traditions an d rites of the Egypti an p opul ar

‘

religion then were explained in a rationalist sense to t h e

initiated Many p arti c ulars o f this explanation have been
.

lost but what h as b een lost c an hardly have b een o f an y

,

real value for us an d i s little to b e re gretted

, .

8 . B Al
E YL T
ON A ND N I- I V E
‘ '
N .

I n the tradition s o f c lassi c anti quity the s e cret wi s

do m of the E gyptian p riests was not hel d i n greater e s
tee m than that o i their fellow p riests in Chal dae a or B a b y
-

lonia, t h e enlighten ed empire on the lo wer Tigri s and

E u p hrates o f which Assyria land o f the upper Tigris
, , ,

was only a c olony Re c ent researc h has b rought up th e

.

q uestion whi ch civilization was the earlier that of the Nile ,

land o r that o f W estern Asia in the regi on of the twin ,

rivers B ut as we p ossess with re g ard to th e B ab ylonian

.

religion even less in fo rmation than with regard to the

Egyptian we must b e c onten t with a b rief account o f it
,
.

Th e Chaldaean religi on b e yon d a doubt h ad its

o rigin in the c ountry around the lower Tigris and E up h ra
tes a m o n g a p eople o f Turanian or Ural Altai c stock
' -

( akin t o the Turks ) c alled Sumerians

,
o r Akkadians : its ,

root was Shamanism a form of religion peculiar to the

,

Turki c ra c es The most ancient religious writings of

.

this people (a m ong who m cuneiform writing ori ginated )

 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 27

consist in formulas for exo rcisin g evil s p irits ; these spirits

are us u ally represented as co ming fro m the desert in
group s of seven O v er these daemons p resided the sp irit
.

o f the heaven s ( I n lilla afterward called Anu i e sky) ; -

, ,
. .
,

after Anu greatest reverence was p aid to the spirit o f the

earth ( I n kia or Ea) who was after ward spirit o f the
-
,
-

waters also From the higher spirits were evolved gods

.

an d g oddesses innumerable Th e most ancient go ddess .

”
was B a u a name signifying p rimo rdial water or chaos
-
, ,
.

” “
After B a u came the daughter of the heavens named
-
,

at first Anun later Ninni or Ninn a and afterward I star

, ,

The Sumerian groundwork o f Chaldaean civilization

and reli g io n was built u p on b y a Semitic p eople the ,

B abylonian s and Assyrians proper, traces o f who m are

found nearl y 4000 years B C and whos e domination . .
,

seems established B C 2 500 The highest god o f this race . . .

was c alled s rmp l y God (in the ir lan g ua g e I lu) or Lord

“ ” “ ”
,

( B aal ) S u n and . moon were worshi p ed as his images .

The s cene of the life after death was laid in the realm of
shades ( s h u al u in Hebrew Sheol ) This religion was
,
.

blended with that of the S umerians The g od s A n n an d .

I lu became one god of the sky B el ; and I star b ecame ,

B el s wife O ther Sumerian gods were associated with

’
.

the p lanets wo rs h i p ed by the S emites : M arduk with Ju p i

ter Nindar with Satu rn Nirgal w
, ith Mars Nab u wi th , ,

Mercury while I star was specially related to Venus

,
.

There was a sort o f trinity made up o f Samas ( sun ) Sin ,

( moon ) Ramman ( go
, d o f storm s ) Similarly Anu spirit .
, ,

o f the sky and Ea spirit of the earth were pla c ed side by

, , ,

side with B el This system was comp leted about .

B C and it remained unchanged in Assyria save that

. .
, ,

there the autochthonous go d Assur held the first p lace

amo ng the gods .
28 M Y S TE R I A
'
‘
’

A m ong the B a b y lonian s and Assyrian s the priests

were held in great reveren c e I n Assyria they stood next .

after the king and the king was high priest ; in the Baby
,

Io nian kingdom they occupied a mo re indep endent an d

more influential station Like the priests o f Egypt they .
,

p ro b ab l v had a secret doctrine withheld fro m th e vulgar : .

Fro m the m eanings o f the B abylonian deities names as ’

given above it i s easy to infer the nature o f thi s se c re t

,

do c trine .The Chaldees were throughout al l antiquity

known as ob servers o f the heavenly b odies And though .

p robably they were astrolo g ers rather than astro nomers ,

at least they kn e w enough about the stars the heavens , ,

and the facts o f meteo rology to regard th em fo r wh at

they were instead of holding them to b e gods We there .

fore b eli eve that th e Chaldaean priest s among them

selves looked o n the obj ects which b efore the p eople
they held to b e god s as simply sky sun moon p lanets , , , ,

lightn i n g thunder , .

B esides the early cuneifo rm writings already men ~

t i o n ed ( for m s o f exor c ism ) there have been found amid

the ruins of B ab ylon great libraries o f writings o n tiles
”
,

in the cuneiform c haracters Among thes e are peni .

“

”
t e n ti al p sal m s and h y m ns to gods I n the following .

p salm deci p hered fro m the ti le tablets a priest in the

, , ,

na m e of a p enitent sinner entreats the g o ddess ,

0 L ad y, fo r ti by s e rva n t th e cup is fu l l .

Sp eak th e wo rd t o h im , Le t th y h e a rt b e t ra n q u i l
—e v i l h v I
.

Th y s er v an t a e d o ne
Gi v e h im a s s ur a n c e o f m e rc y “
T u rn th y co un te n anc e himw a rd .

C o n si d er h i s e n t re a t y .

Th y s er v an t, t h ou a rt a n g r y wi t h h i m,
B e to h i m g ra c i o u s .

0 L ad y, my h ‘
a n d s a re ti e d .

I cl i ng to th ee .
 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E
’
EA ST 29

Many of the m ythological poe m s indeed mo st of , ,

them and great part o f the les s sacred literature o f the

,

tablets are so o b scure and unintelligible that for their

,
” “
u nderstanding a k e y was necessary and the p riests held ,

the key O f s p ecial interest are the fra g m ents c on tain

.

i n g portions o f the B abylonian co smogony ; and as our

B i b le ( Gen xi 3 1 ) tells that Ab raham was o f Ur
. .
,

in Chaldaea hi s des c endants would inherit fro m him

’

su
( pp o sin g him to have been an histori cal person age )
some p ortion s o f the ancient traditions and folklore o f
the Chaldaean s H ere i s a frag m ent o f the B a b ylonian
.

story o f the Creation

W he n th e sk y ab o ve wa s no t yet na med .

E a r tl h ben ea t h h a d y e t n o n am e,
and th e w at e y
r d e e p, t h e n e e r- e
g i n n i n g, v b
was t h ei r p ro d u c e r,
t he c h ao s o f th e s ea , g e n d e re s s o f t h em all,

fo r h er w a t e rs
'

uni t ed t o g e t h er in o n e.

T h e d a rk n e s s wa s no t y et done a wa y ,

no t a p l an t h a d y et u d d ed b .

A s o f t h e g o d s n o n e h a d y e t go ne fo r t h ,

an d t h ey y et h a d no na me
t h en th e g rea t g o d s , too , we re c re a t e d , etc .

Th e Ch aldee N o ah c alled Samas N ap i s h ti m ( sun of .

-

life ) tells the story of the deluge in this fo rm : The go d

,

Ea havi n g made known to him the p unishment decreed

for m ankind on ac c ount o f their sins h e b uilt a great ,
’
ship at the god s command an d into it brought all hi s ,

p o s sessions his kinsmen his servants also domesti c and

, , ,

wild animals Then the gods let a great tempest loose

.
,

and with the spirits entered the co mbat to destroy all

living t h ings B ut the floo d rose up to the sky and
.

th reatened even the lo wer gods who had to tak e re fu ge ,

with the higher go ds The gods therefore repented o f .

, ,
 M Y S TE HJI '
A

what they had done B ut after seven days the storm was
.

quieted and th e waters were abated ; Samas N ap i sh ti m

,
-

ope n ed the wi ndow of his ship now resting on the moun ,

ta i n Nizir and after other seven days freed a dove but

, ,

th e dove found no resting place Then a swallo w which .

,

d i d in like manner ; then a raven which p reyed o n the ,

b o dies o f the drowned It wa s now p o ssible fo r/ S am as

.

N ap i s h ti m to let th e animals out ; he e re ct e d an altar and °

o ffered sa c rifi c e whereto the gods gathered like m asses

“
,

”
o f flies Then the g o d B el wh o had o rdered th e flo od
.
, ,

became reconciled with the other go ds who were angry ,

with hi m o n that a c count ; he led Sam as N ap i s h ti m fo rth -

with his wife and made a covenant with them and th e

,

peo p le B ut th e p ai r were taken afar to live for everm ore

. .

Thi s Chaldai c histo ry of the deluge is b ut one s e c

tion of a great p oe m an epos contained in t welve earthen
,

tab lets wherein are re c ounted the fortu nes an d exploits of

,

a h e ro apparently the Ni mrod of the H ebrew B ible

,
.

Thi s p oe m i s reputed to date fro m the twenty third c en -

tury B C The deeds of thi s hero Gi s h d ub arra o r N am

, . .
, ,

rass t as he i s called forci b ly recall the sto ry o f the H el

i , ,

lenie H erakles and the H era clean m yth perhap s had its
, , ,

origin in th e Ch aldaean epo s Gi sh d ub arra i s a de s c end .

an t o i Sa m as N ap i s h t i m who m he seeks out in his re

-
,

treat to o b tain a cu re of his disease and who takes that

o ccasion to narrate to hi m the history o f the floo d N o w .
,

his disease was a visitation o f the goddes s A n atu be c ause ,

that he had s p urned the lov e o f the go d dess I star A .

short poem graphically and e ffectively tells of how I star

i n her distress over this repulse sought help in the nether
“ ’ ”
wo rld . I s tar s D escent into H ell im p resses o n e like
“
D ante s I n ferno
’
indeed in the opening verses it e m
,
~
 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 31

p loys nearly the same words as the great Florenti ne .

I star goes s ay s the poet , ,

To th t h w‘h etn e e m e s fo rt h th a t e n t e rs ,
‘
a o us e n o ne co

On th t pa a th t h
a t allo v
w s a d a n c e b u t re g r e s s ,
. ne v er

To th t ha o us e Wh o s e h h
i n m a t es l ig t s a l l s e e n e v m o re
er ,

To t hat p l a ce w h e re d us t is th i vi e r c t ua l an d o r d u re t h ei r

m ea t , et c .

I n the nethe rworld th e goddess A l l at u reign s as

q u een She is I s t ar s co unterp art : as I star ( daughter of
’

the m o o n god ) is the rising moon or the morning star

-
,
-
,

so i s A l l atu the setting moon o r the even ing star The ,

-
.

two are the mutually conflicting opp osite sides o f o ne

being ; an d here perhap s we have an intimation of a , ,

deep er ethi cal interpretation according to the secret do c ,

trine o f the Chaldaeans The hell o f the Chaldaean the .

ology is divided into seven co m p artments separated by

gates At each gate I star m ust surrender to its keeper
.

som e portion o f her p ara p hernalia ; at the first the cro wn ,

at the second the earrings at the third the necklace at , ,

th e fo urth the mantle at the fifth the girdle c rusted with , ,

p recious stones at the sixth the armlets and anklets and

, ,
'

at the s eventh the last vesture Possibly we have here .

,

a s y mb oli c allusion to the Chaldaean m ysti c teaching ,

whi ch may have h a d seven degrees of initiation into as

many o rders of mysteries till all were disclosed The , .

queen o f the nether world not o nly renders to I star no

assistance but contrariwise treats her as an ene m y and
, , , ,

heap s bodily inj urie s upon her Meanwhile on earth .

,

I star being the go d dess of love all unio n of the sexes , ,

wh ether among men or ani mals ceases and at last the , ,

gods re q uest of A l l at u the liberation o f I star Re l uc .

t an t l y she consents I star i s made whole and set free

.

,
32 M Y S TE R I A

an d at each gate gets b ac k again what had b een taken -

.

fro m her The p oem was intended to b e recited by the

.

'

p riest at the obsequies o f the dead to give assurance to ,

the mour ning survivors that the gates o f the netherworld

are not uncon querab le b ut that there is still a p o ssi,

b i l i ty for the shades to re ach the lan d o f th e b lest, the

ab ode of I star .

9 . Z O R OAJS TE R AND TH E P E R I A S NS .

I f in Chaldaea th e trac es of a c tual se c ret tea c hing

seem faint and indistin c t they quite disapp e ar the fur ,

ther we go fro m the c entres of an c ient c ulture in No rth

ern Africa and W estern Asia though analogies are foun d ,

eve ry where I n Persia who se culture fo r the rest was an

.
,

o ffshoot of that of Chaldaea the p riests (ath ravan ) of Zara ,

’
t h u s tra s o r Zoroaster s religion were the highest o f the
’
, ,

three cl asse s of the p op ulati on and the p riestly class was ,

consi dered further removed fro m the other two (warrio rs

an d far m ers) than they fro m ea c h other Sprung ori gina l .

l v fro m a M edian stock the p riests marri ed only wo men ,

o f their own race and alone o f the p op ulation possessed

,

high c ulture As in Egypt the King was adopted into

.
,

th e p rie stly class The p riests wen t ab out th e c ountry

.

as teachers but gave religio us in stru c tion only to tho se

,

of their class Th e chief priest was styled Zarath u s tro

.

tema i e the one nearest to Z arathustra and had his

,
. .
, ,

see in the holy city Ragha ( now Rai ) who se inhabitants , ,

like tho se o f modern Rome had the name o f being un ,

~

b elievers The priests alone held rule in Ragha and no

.
,

secular p ower had right to give o rders Even else where .

throughout the kingdo m the p riests regarded themselves

as subj e c t only to th e c o m mands of the Zarath u s tro tem a :
 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 33

Further they were p hysicians a st rologers int e r

, , ,

p r e t e rs of dreams scribes j udges o fficers

,
of state etc , , ,
.

The d uties they sought to im p ress u p o n the minds of

the peo p le were these exclusively : That they should rev ~

erence the holy fire listen to the reading o f passages from

,

the sacre d books and perform no end o f ceremonies of

,

p u rification on account of their sin s against the p rec epts

of their religion All this points to the existence o f a
.

mysti c gild o f the p ri ests which withheld the real teach,

ings of their religion from the uninitiated an d the mem ,

bers of which alone understoo d what was the o ri ginal of

t h e strife betw en the goo d world of O rmuzd and th e
evil of Ahriman namely in all p robability the alternation
, , ,

of night and day Summer and Winter ,

.

10 . B RA HM A NS AND B UDDHISTS .

The c ase was much the same in India There th e .

p riests,
then a s now the highest caste ( B rahmans
, ) were ,

separa t ed fro m the people by even a deepe r gul f than in

'

Persia Th ey c an have no co mmunicatio n with people

.

o f an y o th er C as te and can take nothing fro m any one

,

not b elon ging to their own caste They stand outside .

o f the state and its laws and have l aws o f their own ,
.

By the people they are regarded as gods : they and their

“
p upils the B ram at s h ari n as is said in the A t h arva
, ,
~

”
Beda (book o f ceremonial l aws ) give li fe to both worlds ; ,

nay they it i s that made sky and earth fast on their

,

foundations that introdu c ed religion the gods and i m

, , ,

mortality that p roduced the wo rld that b rought the

, ,

d aemo n s into s ub j ection Thus they indoctrinated the .

pe o ple ; but as they themselves of c ourse knew that things

were not so a secret do ctrine naturally sp rung up among
,

them and so they instituted a mystic society whose

, ,

members alone kn ew how the matter really stoo d an d ,

“
that the p eo p le were hoodwinked A c cordingly the .
,

basis of religion was totally di fferent for the B rahmans

fro m what it was for the rest of the p eople Th e latter .

were idolaters the former p antheists This pantheism

,
.

i s taught in all their sacred books ; but these b ooks the

second and third castes (warriors and farmers) did not
understand and the fourth caste the servile (whi ch was
, ,

also the most num erous ) durst not read them at all
,
.

According to thi s do c trine all gods and the whole ,

creation are sp run g from Eternity (Aditi) Penitents and .

solitarie s were e steemed by the B rahmans above kings and

heroes even above gods B ut the life o f a hermit was
,
.

not p erfect enough for them for that was attained by the ,

next two castes Therefore as their own peculiar sp e

.

c i al ty they c onco c ted the idea of a sort of a so ul of the

,

universe the Atman B rahman (the All M e or M e All )

,
- -
,
-
.

This dogma was originated b y the B rahman Y ad s h n a ~

val k va : b ut B rahmans themselves sav that no man can

co m p rehend it an d that no man can instruct ano ther in
,
’
it Thus despairing of a solution of life s enigma the
.
, ,

B rah mans hit upon the idea that the universe is only a
phantasm a D ream o f the So ul o f the Universe and as a
, ,

c o nse q uence that the ea rth with all that it contains i s

, ,

n e t h i n g : thi s is p essimism They imagined enormous

.

aeons of time i n the lap se o f which the world grew ever

,

wors e an d creatures were bo rn only to su ffer to die and , ,

either to awaken to su ffering in the soul s migration o r ’

to do p enance in the unspeakable torments of hell Now .

,

as o f all this the people co u ld understand only what was

said about the hell torments the B rahman s contrived for ,
 MY ST E R I E S O F TH E E A ST 35

them also a supreme deity under the same name a s their

own S o ul o f the Universe B rahma and for B rahma they , ,

provided a W ife Sarasvati B rahma they made the

,
.

creator but the p art played b v him was only passive and
,

the p eo p le not content with such a do nothing paid

, ,

m ore attention to other gods specially to resplendent ,

Vishnu and dread Siva Long afterw ard the three gods .

were united in a sort of trinity or rather were represented , , ,

by a three headed figure which had neither temple nor

-
,

sacrificial worshi p Th u s the B rahmans went o n refining

.

and refining in their theological spe c ulations while the ,

p eo p le b ecame divided into parties Vishnuites and Siva ,

ites and the religi on o f the H indus reached at last the

,

state o f debasement in which we find it to day -

.

B efore degeneration had gone so far B ud d ha in the ,

sixth cent u ry B C endeavored to save the Hindu re

,
. .
,

l i gi o n B uddhism was not a new religion o nly a re

.
,

form o f B rah mani sm Tho u gh it failed to strike ro ot

.

deep in its nati ve soil the m o re westerl y c o u n tri e s o f

,
.

India o n the other hand it wo n a great following in

,

fa rther I ndia, Tibet China and J apan : it has since as

, ,

sumed a pecul i ar co mposite character by fusio n with the

ancient religions of tho se countries It grew out o f a .

m onastic society founded by Siddhartha afterward B ud ,

dha s urnamed the Perfe c t O ne

, H i s doct rine was .

wholly eth ical and its p rofoundest p rinciple was that only
,

in complete renunciation of all things can man find safety

and p eace Buddha himself was rather strict with po stu
.

lants fo r adm i ssion to the so ciety so that in his tim e the ,

t e ach ing was in many respects a secret d octrine B ut .

after the death o f B uddha when first himself then seve ral , ,

other B uddhas believed to have lived before him and ex ,

p e c te d to c o m e after him had bee n raised to the ran k of ,

 M Y S TE R I A .

gods ; and when to these had b een added t h e H indu god s

and th e gods o f other p eoples ; the religion o f the founder
h aving thu s degenerated into a polytheism the learned ,

b egan to interpret the original do ctrine now in one sense ,

again in another opinions differing on the questio n

,

whether the Ni rvana (literally extingu ish ment) preached

’

by B uddha meant D eath and Nothingness o r a Blest ,

State Thus the B uddhism o f the p riests assumed a s trong

.

likeness to a secret do ctri ne tho u gh we know not of any ,

formal organization to that end .

II . S E CRE T L E A GUE S O F B A RB AR O US PE OP LE S .

Even am ong
Savages s o called are found se cret doc -

trines an d se c ret so c ietie s o f p riests analogous to tho se

'

of more cultured peop les The p riests o f H awaii who .

,

in thi s respect p erhap s ran k highest among savage

races had a theory of their own regarding creation which
,

shows great elevation of thought The sorcerers or .

,

priests of savage races wherever they still remain are

, ,

banded in secret so cieties which withhold fro m the peo ,

p le all knowledge o f their tri cks Th e Angekoks of the .

Eski mo s the M edi c ine M en o f t h e N o rt h Ameri c an

’

aboriginals th e Shamans of Siberia as well as the sor

, ,

c e rers however named of African and other races near

, , ,

lv all form c l o se castes hand down their p retende d arts of

,

weather making of healing disease discovering thieve s

-
, , ,

co unteracting sp ells etc to their successors and prepare

,
.
, ,

themselve s for their o ffi c e by undergoing strange tests an d

p erf o rming o u t l an i s hl rites ; they also wear fantasti c to g s .

Among the Zulu Kaffi rs the o ne who desires to b e

c o me a sorcerer (usually a descendant o f a sorcerer) gives
up the c us tomary mo d e of life h as strange dreams see k s , ,
 M Y S TE R I E S O F TH E E A S T 37
’

solit u de ho p s and j um p s ab out utters cries handles ser

, , ,

p ents that other K affi rs will not touch at last rece i ves .

instructio n from some aged sorcerer and is formally a d ,

m i tte d by the assembly o f those c harlatans Th ere are .

als o witches or sorceresses who go through a like form

, ,

o f co nsecration .

There exist also among savages other s p ecies of

secret societies I n the Society I slands the chiefs called
.
,

Areoi or B rih form an association the origin o f which

, ,

they trace to O ros go d of war They are divided into

,
.

twelve classes under as many grandmasters each clas s ,

distinguished by a peculiar tattoo the members are united ,

by the fi rmes t ties show unbounded hosp itality to one

,

ano ther live without marriage kill t heir own children

, , ,

and refrain fro m all work There are similar societies .

in M icronesia called Kl o bb e rgo l l whic h assemble in

, ,

s p ecial houses and se rve their chiefs in war as bodyguard

,
.

O n the isle o f New B ritain ( now a German possession ,

and named New Pomerania) there exists a secret so ci ety

—
c alled the D uk D uk who se members wearing frightful
, ,

m asks care fo r the execution of the laws collect fines

, , ,
‘

and inflict punishment on ince ndiaries and homicides .

They are known to each other by secret s 1gn s and out; ,

siders are denied admis sion to their festivals under pain

of death I n West Africa there are many secret so cietie s
.

whose memb ers are distinguished by a chalk line with ,

which they are marked at their initiation Th eir o ffice .

is to pursue and p unish criminals and to collect the ,

tribute . In ea c h locality these associations p ossess

ho u ses for their s p ecial use and their members are b ound
,

to the s trictest secrecy Thus even savages have their

.

secret p olice an d their privy tribunals .

 P A R T S E C ON D .

Th e Gr e c i a n M y s t e ri e s an d th e R o m an
B a c ch a n a l ia .

1 . H E L LA S .

Grecian religion is worship o f the b eautiful Its .

origin was as that of the other pol y theistic religions : its

’
b asis was a p ersonification of nature s forces and of the
heavenly bodies but in its evolution it di ffered esse n
,

t i al ly fro m the religions o f the O rien tal p eop les who had ,

n o sense for th e b eautiful and wh o ascrib ed to their gods

,

forms quaint or unnatural or hideous I n the dawn of

, ,
.

their h istory the H ellenes did undoubtedly worship the , ,

forces of nature under the fo rm o f animals esp ecially o f ,

serp ents .In time the human and animal forms were
united and there were deities with heads o f animals or
,

the bodies of horses (centaurs ) or the hoofs o f goats

( sat y rs.
) B u t th e native genius of Greece asserted itself
at an early period and the figures o f gods came by de
,

gr e e s to express the highest physical p erfe c tion with

wh ich the y were ac q uainted— the human fo rm True .
,

t h e H ellenes like the E as t e rn s fo rgot the astronomic

, ,

and cosmic signification o f t h eir myths ; but whereas fo r , ,

—
th eir neighb ors oversea at least for th e mass o f the p eo
—
ple the natural p owers transformed into go ds were
simply fetiches exi sting only in the matter out o f which
they were made—o bj ects o f dumb reveren ce or o f mad
terror ; for the man o f H ellas they be c ame changed into
38
 TH E I
GR E C A N M Y ST E R I E S 3 2!

mor al forces into ideas which he re p resented to himself

,

in bea u tiful form s that were to him not obj ects o f fear
at all b u t beings with whom he might converse as with
,

fellowmen and of who m his poets sang as though of

,

mortal heroes H ere we have the distingui shing char

.

ac te ris t i c of Grecian religious worship .

The H ellenes knew nothing of dog m a creeds} cate ,

c h i s i n g o r revelation
,
I n their eyes if a man did but honor
.
,

the go ds as rep resenting the groundwork o f morality he ,

satisfied all the re q u irements o f religion : the how the ,

when the where the how o ften were matters left to the
, , ,

discretion o f each one ; and nobody else j udged him con

cerning them O f course We must not apply our mod
.
,

ern ethical yardsti ck to the p rin ci p les o f morality for

whi c h the god s stood sp on sor after the origin of t h e ,

god s had been forgotten The Greeks were with regard .

,

to n zatte rs that we nowadays hold to be within the sphere

—
o f ethics not at all scru ple ridden ; and in tr u th we need
,

to b ear in mind their great services on behalf o f the

beautiful if we would loo k with so me measure o f allow
ance on their s h ortcomings with regard to virtue In .

two p oints specially straightfo rwardness (hon esty can

, ,

dor truthfulness ) and chastity they left m uch to b e de

, ,

s ired ; b u t what else was to b e ex p e c ted seeing that in ,

the i r gods as in co u rs e o f time they came to conceiv e o f

,

them mistakenly they had by no means edifying exempla rs

,

o f the moral p rinciples to which those deities were sup

p osed to give sanction Nevertheless hi story will even
.
, ,

to the H ellenes forgive much be c ause they loved much

, , .

O f so little obligation was the Grecian belief regard

ing the go ds that the several divisions of the H ellenic
,

race were by no means agreed as to the number o f the

god s and their resp ective ranks O f the twelve gods o f .
40 M Y S TE R I A

O lymp us o ne would b e disown ed here anoth er there In

, ,
.

one place greater honor would be paid to this god in ,

another place to that ; the c as e is exactly that o f the saints

in Catholic countries to day -
Nay local deities e g
.
, ,
. .
,

Athene in Athen s o ften received more homage than Zeus

,
,

father o f the gods and lord o f the thunderclouds The .

wor s hip of the b eautiful w ent even so far as to m ul ti p l v

gods and to divide them among the di fferent lo calities
,
'

that p o ssessed renown ed statues o f them : these statues

then cam e to be regarded as di stinct individual s so that ,

even a So crates could be in doubt wh ether the Aphro dite

Urania (Aphrodite in the sky) and Aphrodite Pandemos
( the p opular Aphrodite ) were or were not one p erso n .

Nay when the k nown gods did not su ffi ce they made

, ,
“
gods that had no name : thus we find a greatest go d ,
“ “ ” “ ”
also pure and reco nciling and ruling and as we , , ,
” “ ”
learn from the Acts of the Ap ostles unknown gods ,
.

And now as regard s the character of all these d eities : fo r

the Greeks who in all things studied the beautiful they
, ,

were neither monsters like the gods o f Egypt I ndia and , ,

Ph o enicia nor incorp o real spirits like the gods of the

,

Pers i ans and the I sraelites but human existen ces that
,

never coul d die mighty b eings with human feelings i h

, ,

c l i n at i o n s
,
and p assions The G reeks knew no Y ahve :
.

b ut then neither d id they know any D evil Th eir gods .

were neither faultless no r virtueless j ust like the Greeks

,

themselves O f course there are to b e found in H ellenic

.

religion su rvivals fro m that p eriod of mythology in which

h u m an and b east forms were mingled This we see in .

the Centaurs the Chimaera the Minotaur the Satyrs etc

, , , ,
.

b ut such b eings were beco me merel y figures in folk tales -

,

and there they enacted parts ranging from terror to farce

they no more received divine hono rs And the same is .
 TH E G R E C A I N M YST E R I E S 41

to be said o f daemons and mali gn sp irits relegated to the ,

domain of su p erstition and the real m o f p o esy .

2
. H E LL E N I C DIVIN E W O R SHI P .

Gre c ian religion was a fun c tion of state I ts ad o g .

m at i s m it is true abated the app rehension this fact

, ,

might inspire for freedo m of thought : but on the other ,

hand religion came to b e a cloak for the designs o f p o

,

l i t i c a l parties. Thus for exam p le Socrates was p u t out

, ,

o f the Way by the p arty O pp osed to him o n the pretext

that he had apo statized fro m the religion of the state .

H eresy trials except as stirred up by p oliticians had no

, ,

p l a c e among the Greeks -

Philoso p hers
. and Initiates o f
the myst e rie s fearlessly expre ssed t h e ir convictions how ,

ever much oppo sed the same might b e on one side or the
other to the o ffi cial theology : nay comedy and even the , ,

c o medies of the tory Aristophanes intro duced the gods in

the mo st ridiculous and most disgraceful si tuations on
the stage It was enough for the state if the public w or
.

shi p o f the gods whose festival s we re commanded and

, ,

whose sacrifices were p rescribed by p ublic authority went ,

on : for the state what individuals tho ught was o f no con

se q ue n ce : the state cared neither for the u p holding o f
p ositiv e nor for the putting down of negati ve belief s .

The public worshi p was regarded as a so rt o f legal

transaction between the gods and the p eO p l e : the god s
w ere entitled to sa c rifices and the p eople to divine aid
, ,

and the two parties were held to make faithful exchange .

Violation of temples and pro fanation of sacred things

were therefore g rievous crimes O ne need not b elieve
, , .

in miracles wrought by images of gods : but one must

l e ave the images alone And inasm u ch as the gods
.
,

w ere o fficially recognized as vested with righ ts be fore th e

 MY s rni R I A

law therefore upon c o m plaint

, ,
then o nl y —
m ade and
denial o f their existen c e s co ffi n g, and b lasphemy were
,

p u nish ed w ith banishment as th e worst so rt o f crimes .

No r was there in this any fanati c ism or any i ntoleran c e ,

simply an idea o f right and wrong Th at this is so i s .

proved b y the fact that there was no prohibition o f the

bringing in o f alien gods or of the worship o f such pro ,

vid e d onl y th e customs o f the land were not infringed ;

nay alien god s if their religi on gained vogue might b e
, , ,

ado p ted into th e religion of the state .

Such freedo m o f religion could o f c ourse exist only , ,

where no pri e stly caste existed nor in fact any special , , ,

priestl y class It was competent fo r p ersons in variou s

.

walks of life to p erform religious ceremonies I n the .

name o f th e state the king ( or other head o f the gov

,

e rn m e n t)
“
transacted b usiness with the gods for ex
”
,

a m ple conducte d the sacrifices

, O nly in temples an d .

ot h er localities consecrated to divine worshi p were p riests

as s u c h employed : b ut outside the walls of these they h ad
n o t hing to do ; for instance they had nothing to do with,
’
men s consciences I n Hellas the p riest had no priv
.
~

i l e g e s no influen c e such as he had in E gypt and p riestly

, ,

s o cieties and p riestly se c ret doctrine were o u t o f the

q u e s tion The service of some of the gods was con

.

ducted b v women and in the worship o f certain deitie s

,

only unmarried p riests could engage ; there were also

certain o ther restri ction s put on the p riest s mode of li fe ’
.

Among the Greeks religiou s ministration was n o

more restricted to certain p laces than to certain p erson s .

The gods were everywhere the highest inhabiting O lym ,

p us others the sea the nethe rworld c e rt ai h groves trees

, , , , ,

streams , mountains grottoes etc Not in tem ples alone

, , .

but ever y where stood altars : in houses in the street s , ,

 TH E G RE C A I N MY ST E RI E S 43

in forests .
All co nsecrated places whether temples o r ,

sacred groves etc w ere Asyla places of refuge for o f

,
.
, ,

fenders against law The hono r done to the go ds con

‘

sisted in :
.
I I nvo c ation comprising
,
Prayers addressed ,

whether to the images of the god s o r to their suppo sed

abode and pronounced low o r loud or in song ; O ath s ,

—
,

summoning the gods as witnesses of truth thi s at times

degenerated into a sp ecies o f O rdeal ; I mp recations call ,

i n g o n the gods to p u nish evildoers .

. 2 Votive O fferings (anathemata) obj ects o f all kind s ,

laid at the feet of the gods images : the o ffering might b e

’

an animal fattened sp ecially for the god or it might b e

, ,

a person dedicated for life to the servi ce o f the go d b y

himself his father or his master
, ,
.

.
3 Sa c rifices mostly
,
meat and drink o fferi ngs b ut ,

sometime s livi ng: ani m al s immolated to the gods i n ,

ato nement for sin o r to ratify treaties or to obtain an i n

, ,

t i m at i o n o f the divine will or fo reknowledge I n the .

earliest times human victims were i mmolated .

I f reli g ion consists in a belief i n s u p erterres' t rial

p owers and in wo rshi p o f them so on th e other hand

, , .
,

the belief in mira cle h as its root in the conviction that

’

this worshi p i s answered by action of the heavenly powers

0 11 the physical world O ne instance of thi s action o f the
.

s up ersensual world is called Revelation H ere the .

Grecian religion was distinguished fro m other fo rms o f

belief in that it accepted n o o fficial standing revelation
which every one was required to believe whi l e it main ,

t ai n e d the p ossibility of a revelation from the gods for

emerge n cies . This b elief was firmly held even by the
most eminent Grecian philosophers in p articular by S0 ,

crates and the Stoi c s And i f the granting o f prayers

.
44 M Y S TE R I A

and the decision o f questions by ordeal s was a first feeble

step t oward revelation the same m istaken b e l i e f led to
,
a

still f u rther degeneratio n o f the religiou s idea in th e

forms of Seership O ra c les , and Conj uration
,
.

Seership (in Greek m an ti k e seer s art) was un i n ten

, ,
’

t i o n al or intention al Unintentional seershi p we see in

.

dreams and in trance

,
I ntentional s eers h i p was prae
.

ticed by interp retation o f si gn s or o mens ( sign reading) -

.

A seer ( m a ntis) was one who p racticed sign reading

’
-
,

whether self deluded or simply p retending to b e under

-

divine i n spiration Folklore and history tell of famous

.

seers who foretold th e future from ob servation of th e

flight o f birds atmo spheric phenomena the p osi tion of
, ,

constellations an d the entrails o f animals ; or who i n

,

t erp ret e d dreams and o n occasion had ecstasies and

vision s . Then there were u n p ro fes s mn al p racti c ers of
the art who divined the fu ture by other means ; thus one
would write the letters of the alphab et in a circle on the
ground lay on each letter a grain of c orn then let a
, ,

cock pick up the grains the operator meanwhile care ,

ful l v noting th e order in which the grain s were p icked

up : thi s was known as al e etro m an cy ( Gr al ek t o r co c k ; .
, ,

mant o ia seership divination )

, , .

O racles are properly divinations obtainable o nly in

p arti cular places (as temp les and other sanctuaries) and ,

practi ced only by duly qualified persons There were .

s everal kin ds o f oracles viz : , .

. I O ra c les fro m Signs Th e m ost ancient ora c le o f

.

t hi s class was that of Zeus at D odona in E p irus men , ,

t i o n e d by H o m er The priests o f the san c tuary at D o

.
~

dona divined by ob se rvation o f the rustling o f the leaves

o f the sa c red oak ; they al so cast lots on th e altar or ques ,

ti n ned a sa c red bronze b asin .

 TH E GR E C A I N MY ST E R I E S 45

Sententious O racles These were all san ctuaries

2 . .

sa c red to Ap ollo and were numero u s in H ellas and Asia

,

M inor The mo st notable of them was one at Delphi

. .

Th e minister o f th e oracle o f D e l p h i a vi rgi n p riestess ,

called the Pythia while questioning the oracle sat on a ,

tripod which stood over a c revice in the ground ; thence

i ssued a gas and intoxicated by inhaling this the Pythia
, , ,

uttered words whi c h the p riest s dressed up i n verse or

in sententiou s fo rm .

3 D ream O racles
. O f these there we re m any in .
,

san c tuaries dedi c ated to A s klep io s (Aesculapius go d of ,

leechcraft) to which the sick were taken in order that

thro ugh interp retation of t h e dream s th ev had on th e
spot they might obtai n from the priests o f Asklepio s
counsel u pon the healing of their complai nts Th e most .

ren owned o f this c lass o f ora c les was at Ep idaurus in ,

Argolis .

Co nj uration whic h developed into magi c was mu c h

, ,

used in ancient Gree c e especially after the Greeks had ,

co me in c onta c t with the O ri ental world ; but the gods

and daemons c oncerned in thi s p fac ti c e were all taken
fro m foreign m ythologi es People believed in c onj ura .

tion o f the weather in tran sformation o f men into ani ,

mals in love potions etc and employed magi c formula s

, ,
.
,

exp ressed i n words that no one understood and that b e

lo n ged to no earthly language .

3 . TH E H E L L E NI C M YST E R I E S .

Su c h was the theol o gy and such the thau m atology *

image and re fl ec ti o n —o f Grecian religion

—
,

Th e two .

*T
he o ri g n a l G o e t t e rg l ia u b e , b e l i e f i n g o d s , a nd W un
'

h as
d e rj g l a u b e , be l i ef in m i rac l es , i n a l l us i o n t o t h e p re c e d i n g se c
 M Y S TE R I A
‘
.

ele m en ts con stitute th e p op ular rel i gio n th e religi o n o f ,

feeling worship o f the gods as far as sensibility i s co n

, ,

cerned B ut i n the most an c ient times there stood over

.

against the popular reli gion (in Greece as in Egypt) a re

l i gi o n of p riests their I nitiates an d Ele c t ; over against
, ,

t he religion of feeling a religi on o f reflec tion ; o ve r

against the naif sen sorial view the sentimental romantic , , , ,

mysti c al o ne the one whi c h ai ms to a c quire fo r b elief

,

an ethical side and to su b ordin ate th at to faith , Thi s .

phase o f religion results fro m th e mysti c c onsideration

that the individual i s essentially di fferent fro m the divin e
n ature su bj e c t thereto and dependent on it ; in short i t
, , ,

results fro m the idea of alienation from God toward “

,

whi c h the superstitions o f seership o ra c les and magic were ,

already showi ng the way It was the impulse given by .

,

refle c tion to seek the lost god that led to the

,
”

institution o f mysteries in G ree c e : men were no

’
longer satisfied with go ds that were but man s
e quals Th e mysteries c ontradi c t the ori gin o f re
.

l i g i o n i n feeling they deny its dep e n dence on art ,

and the b eautiful ; the y p onder and b rood over the l ost
god and are ever seeking him They would su b o rdinate
, .

li fe and all its interests to his servi ce ; they wo uld regulate

all m an s acts and hence m orality a cc ording to faith ;
’

, ,

they h old in contempt either man s power or hi s kno wl ’

edge . The Grecian m ysteries indeed b orro wed from , ,

the p opular religio n its art an d turned it to account but , ,

in them art was not c ultivated for itself and sci en c e ,

was co m pletely ignored As s c ien c e was free in H ellas .

and not tied to any priestly o rder the m ysteries coul d ,

t io n 2 . Go e t t e r g l a u b e i s o f c o u re e q iv u alen t to t h eo l o gy ,

an d if so, t h en W u n d e rg l a u b e is e q iv u a l e n t -t o t h a u m at o l
o gy
”
fro m G ree k th aum a ta, m i ra c l e s , an d l o g o s , d i s c o u rs e .
 TH E GRE CI A N M YST E R I E S 47

there render no service : there was nothing for them t o

do O f all the many philosophers of Greece not o n e
. ,

employed the do ctrines o f the mysteries i n his system :

not one showed any regard for them The myste ries .

were then what they had ever b een and still are to wit , , ,

self introspection
-
interp retation of divine things a
, ,

mourning over the lost god and searc h after the same , ,

an endeavor for union with God for grace an d salva ,

tio n a sensible delight in the thought of a god su ffering

,
’
and dying in meditation on the soul s state after death
, ,

on revelation incarn ation and resurrection ; and a rep

, ,

re s en t at i o n of all these ideas in dramatic forms and cere

monies the main e ffe c t of whic h is to m ake an illusive

and blinding impression on the senses .

Thus the Grecian mysteries were the exact oppo site

,

o f genuine Hellenism Chee rfulness j oyo usness clear .

, ,
~

ness of p erc eption and o f thought ab sen c e of all mist s ,

and vapors were the notes of your true H ellene : hi s

,

s t atues of gods with their grand bold full rounde d , , ,

c ontours to thi s day de m onstrate this ; an d his s up e rst i

tion e v en took thi n gs j ust as they looked to him O n .

the other hand gloom ruefulness a morbid overween

, , , ,

ing owlis h phantastry symbolry mysticism with every

, , , ,

shallow t ri c k of strained interp retation and all the smug ,

nesses o f p harisaic p iety are the earmarks of your mystic .

O n the one side d ay on the other night there a c tion here ,

q ues t and longing there fact here makebelieve there

, ,

alertness here moping there a hearty meal o ff what is at

,

hand here a hungering and thirsting after truth th at never

c an be attained The mysteries were therefore in every
.

way u n grec 1an outlandish and abnor m al They h ad no

'

, , .

fit p lace on H ellenic soil n o r in that age ; th ey were the ,

propaedeuti c of a future age when on e shoul d c o m e up on

 M Y S TE R I A

the s c ene wh o was to hurl O lympo s O kean o s and H ades , ,

into the everlasting night o f oblivion ‘

.

And yet fro m the di fferen c e b etween the G recian

m ysteries and the ordinary life o f the people it by no
m ean s follows that the I nitiates did not find satisfaction ,

at least a partial satisfaction in these mysti c exer c ita

’

~
,

tions The man who nurses the feeling of a want for so me

.

thin g other than what his times and his surroundings

a fford find s at the last in his very brooding the satis
,

faction o f his need Sentimental romantic fan c ifu l and

.
, , ,

m y stical characters therefore must find un c o mmon de

, ,

light in mysteries while practical c lear sighted undis

, ,
-
,
~

t o rt e d an d strictly logical minds are un m oved by th em

,
.

Let u s then listen to the testimony of two c elebrated

mys tae a Gre c ian and a Roman both it is true living in
, , , ,

a tim e when their resp e ctive nations had beg u n to de

‘

c line The tragi c poet Euripides sings : O bles t is he

.

whose fortune it i s to have learned the divine initi ations ;

”
he s an cti fi e s his l i fe And Ci cero ( D e Le gi b u s I I 1 4)
. .
,

make s Marcus say to Atticus : O f all the gran d and as

“
,

I fain would think the divine elements i mp o rted b y th y

,

Athens into human life there i s nought better than tho se ,

Mysteri es whereby we have b een develop ed out of rude

ness and savagery and trained to the human manner o f
life And we too even as th e M y s te ri es are called I nitia
.
, ,

( beginnin gs ) so in them have found the p rinciples ( a pl ay

“ “
on w ords initia and p rincipia
, p rinci p les b eing , ,

homonyms ) of right living and have learn ed not only to ,

live j oyou sly b ut also to die with better hop e

,
,
”
Then as .
,

shadow follows ligh t h e adds : The thing I do mislike

,

in the no ct u rnal rites is told i n th e comic p oets Were

, .

such liberties permitted in Ro me what had not that i n ,

fa m ou s wret c h ( Cl o d i us) done who brought lewdness ,

 TH E GR E C IA N MY ST E R I E S 49

i n to the presen c e of certain sacred rite s upo n which twere ’

‘

”
sin even to glance unwittingl y .

The Grecian mysteries were no m o n o pl y of the

priests or of any other class : n o m an was excluded ex
cept su c h as by their life p ro v e d them selves unworthy o f
initiation ; The origin of these myste ries is found in the
rites o f P u rification and Atonement I n the earliest tim e s .

the p u ri fi c ati o n s were nothing but bodily cle ansings pre

scribed to those who took part in religious ceremonies
later they to ok on a moral si gnificance as the sen se of ,

alienation from Go d gained ground With th e con .

s c i o u s n e s s of sin with the need of obtaining forgiveness

, ,

and to that end of knowi ng a deity free fro m all sin and
, , ,

hence totally unlike man mysticism begin s and develop s

,
.

Expiations came into vogue little by little esp ecially fo r ,

bloo dguiltiness and were used in the p opular religion

, .

These consi sted of certain ceremonies in which the blood

o f an imals and in c ense were emp loyed ; in the c ase o f i h
d i vi d u al s such rites might lessen the p unishment under
mitigating circumstances ; they might in the case o f c ities ,

and states e fface the stains o f murderous crimes co m

,
s

m i tte d during revolts or civil strifes I n all the mysteries

.

p u r i fi ca t i o n s and ex p iations played a great p art VV h at .

ever h as b een hand ed down with regard to these mysteri es

is found in the sections following .

4 . TH E E LE USINIA N MY ST E R I E S .

The most ancient mo st celeb rated and mo st vener

, ,

able among the Grecian mysteries were those instituted

ar Eleusis ,
in Att i ca in honor o f the go ddess D emeter
,

(called b y the Latins Ceres) and her daughter Perse

p hone ( Pro s erpina ) and later o f a male deity also known
, ,
 M Y S TE R I A

in the m yste ri e s under the na m e of I a cc ho s ; an d though

there is no a ffinity betwe en th e letters I and B I accho s ,

c ame in time to stand for B a c chus The ori gi nal I accho s .

would see m to have been a god in the p eople s religion

’

and thi s name is pro b ably related to Jao ( fo und in J ovis

ater J u iter and to the H eb rew Y ahve D i d o ru s ( I
p , p ) o .

9 4) g i ve s t h e name J ao to the Go d o f the H ebrews ; and

l

an ora c ular u tteran ce of the Apollo of Claros say s

Know th o u t ha t th e h i gh es t o f al l th e g o d s i s n a m e d J ao ,
an d in W i n ter A id es , an d Z eu s in o p en i n g S p ri ng,

t h en H el i o s in S u m m er , an d o n ce m o re J ao s in F all .

The fa c t that J ao s was the h arvest god tended stron g -

l y to identify him with B acchus personification of the ,

sun which rip ens the grap e ; and b esides B a c chus was , ,

—
allied to D emeter ( originally Ge m et e r Ea rthmother) wh o
was the p atroness o f husbandry The name o f the city .
,

Eleusis means in G reek advent and it co m memorate s

, (

the stay of D e m eter there i nth e co urse o f her wandering

i n search of her daughter : a like story is told o f I sis in
Egypt In gratitude for their hospitality D e m eter b e
.
,

stowed on the p eople o f Eleusis the bread grain and the -

mysteries From Eleusi s the cult of the two deities

.

spread all over Gree c e and p art o f Asia M inor and in a ,

modified form p assed into Italy : in several p laces arose

a ffiliated institution s resembling that at Eleusis having ,

the same festivals and the same secret cult ; but Ele u sis
al wa y s held the supremacy The buildings at El eusis in .
,

the p u re D o ri c style consisted o f the tem p le of D emeter

,
.

and th e Mystic H ouse in whic h the secret fe stival s were ,

held They were conne c ted with Athens by the Sa c red

.
“

Way a road flanked by temples and sanctuaries : in

Athen s itself was an Eleu s inian b uilding ( Eleusinion )
 TH E GR E C A I N M YST E R I E S 01

m wh ich a p ortio n o f the m ysteries was cel ebrated . In

front o f the city gate toward th e Piraeus was also a
sanctuary dedicated to thi s cult and furthermore an ,

Ele u sinion at A grae The buildings at Eleusis stoo d

.

till the fourth centu ry o f our era : they were then de

stroye d by the Goth s under Alaric at the instigation o f ,

monkish fanatics .

The Eleusinia were always under the direction of the

Athenian Government When Athen s became a d e m o c
.
~

racy the function s till then perfo rmed by the King as ,

protector of the Eleusinia devolved o n the head o f the

,

executive the Archons wh o therefore bore the title

, , , ,

Basileus ( king) because the m o s t important duties o f the

King had been concerned with Eleusi s and its Mysterie s .

The Basileus was assisted b v four councilors (ep i m el e

tae ) o f whom two were chosen from among th e Athen
,

ian s and other two fro m the two Eleusinian gentes

, ,

E u m o l p i d ae and K e rytae
,
The repo rt on the celebra
.

tio n of the Mysteries was always rendered to the Gran d

Coun c il ( B oule ) of Athens assembled in the Eleusinion
, .

The function o f prie st in the institutions at Eleusis was

always the exclusive p rivilege o f the E u m o l p i d ae and
Ke rytae . The chief of the priests was th e h i erO p h an-t ,

an d with him w as associated a h i e ro p h an t e s s Ne x t to .

these in di gnity were the torchbearer (daduchus) the ,

“
sacred herald (h i ero k e ryx ) and th e al tar p riest
,
These -
.

o ffi cials c on stituted the Sacred Council which had the ,

immediate direction of the mysteries .

It would b e a great m i sta ke to regard the Eleusinian

Mysterie s as a result of ill u minism or rationalism Rather .

were the y an institution not less religio u s not less faith ,

ful to the ancient traditions than th e p o p u lar reli gion

itse l f ; with this di fferen c e only that the latter co ntente d
,
 M Y S TE R I A

itse l f with h onoring the gods contemplated in the human

form while the mysteries emphasized the infinite pre
,

eminence o f the divine nature over the human H ence .

the mvs ti c re l igion was guarded b y the state authori ties

with the same zeal as the anthrop o mo rphic religio n of th e
vulgar .

No one saw in the o ne any danger to the o ther The .

two forms of reli g ion were b ranches o f one tree Panthe ,

i sm and herein only di ffered that the one s aw the D ivi n e

, ,

in all earthly thi n gs the oth er sought for it there and ,

strove for union with it It i s e q ually vain to look in .

the Eleu sinia for either Rationalism or M onotheism .

M onothei s m i e ab solute severan ce of the earthly from

. . .
,

the divine witho u t hop e o f union was a p urely O rie n tal ,

idea q ui te incomp re h ensi b le to the Grecian mind : no ah

,

cient Greek writer ever dreamed of a creative demiurgus ,

in the Egyptian sense nor of an angry and revengefu l ,

Y ahve like the H eb rews

,
.

So great was the veneration for the Eleusini a among

the Grecian states that during the mysti c festival s ,

hostilities were susp ended b e t ween o p p osing armies ; :

and desp isers of the mysteries b etrayer s o f th e secret ,

doctrine and unbidden witnesses of th e rites were pun

, ,

i s h ed cap itally or with lifelo n g banishment In the year .

4 1 1 B C the p
. oet D i ag o ra
. s of M elos who threw a figu e ,
r

of H erakles into fire to p u t the hero to his thi rteenth ,

labor an d wh o had betrayed the mysteries was b anish e d

, ,
-

for hi s i rreli gi o n Even after the death o f H elleni c

.

l i b erty the Roman emp erors took an interes t in m ai n

taining the Eleusini an sanctuaries H adrian sought and .

obtained the initiation Antoninus erected edifices at ,

Eleusis nay some o f the early Christian em p ero rs as

, , ,

Constantius I I and J ovian in their d ecrees forbidding

.
,
 TH E G R E C IA N M YST E R I E S O3

n octurn al festival s made an ex c eption o f the Eleusinia ;

an d a fter the destruction o f the sa c red b uilding s t h e rite s ,

seem to have been still p racticed .

The su m of all that is known of th e do c trine taught

at Eleusis i s as follows : Th e myt h un derly in g the s e
m ysteri es was the rap e b y Pluto of Persephone daughter , , ,

of D emeter Pluto god o f the neth e rworld in the p o p u

.
,

l ar b elief lord o f the abode of the damned in other te rni s

, , ,

the personifi cation of the sun that goes down in the west ,

hence of the s u n of the ni g httime o r of the Winte rtime , ,

carries o ff Persephone (personifi cation o f th e world of

pla n ts) as she i s p luckin g flowers ( fo r as the cold season
,

c c m e s on the flowers wither and die ) and takes her with ,

him to the realm o f shades where she o ccup ies the throne ,

with him B ut her mother D emeter b eing as goddess of

.
, ,

.
—
the earth the mother of the plant world and so too p ro ,
~

t e c t re s s o f husbandry wanders ab out lamenting for indeed

, ,

the earth loses its adornments its l o veliest features in Win , ,

ter B ut at last the gods take p ity on the hap less wanderer
.

an d brin g a b out an agreement between her and Pl u to ,

whereby Persephone i s permitted to live in the up p erwo rl d

in Summer returning to the nethe rworld for Winter : here
,

i s signified the fecundity o f the soil and also the res u rrec ,

tion of man after his body has been dro p ped like a grain
"

of corn in the earth The union of Persephone with.

Bacchus i e with the sun god whose work i s to p romote

, . .
,
-

fruitfulness i s a n idea special to the mysteries and m ean s

, ,

the union o f huma nity with godhead the consummation ,

aimed at in the mystic rites H ence in all p robability .

the central teaching of the mysteries was Personal I m

mortality analogue o f the return of the bloom to pl ants
,

in Sprin g .

Now th e fe s tivals at Eleu s i s have referen c e to thi s

 M Y S TE R I A

m yth . O f th ese festival s there were t wo , the Le s ser Eleu

sinia in Sp ring (the month Antheste rion M arch) when the , ,

ravished one c ame up out of the netherwo rld into the

sunlight ; these festivals were o b served at A gr ae ; and th e
Greater Eleusini a in Autumn (the m onth B oedro m ion ,

O ctober) when she must follow her sullen s p o use again t o

,

H ades ; they were o b served at Athens and Eleusis There .

wa s a p reli minary celebration at Athens and at Eleusis th e ,

high cele b ration Th e p reliminary solemnity lasted six

.

days B oedro mio n 1 sth to 2 0th O n the first day I nitiates

, .

fro m every region wherever the G reek language was heard

and Grecian hearts beat for the god s assemb led in th e ,

Poecile at Athens and there heard the o rder of the ex er

cises p ro c l ai med by the H ieroph ant after hi s aides had
,

first in a loud voice bidden the b loodguilty to depart O n .

the secon d day the m ys tae were summoned to go down to

the seash ore and to p erform in th e sacred b rine the ac t of
purification re q uisite for a wo rthy ob servan c e of the
,

solemnity The remaining days were sp ent in perform

.

ing the p res cribed sacrifices sharing in the sacrificial b an

,

q u e t s,
an d m aking the customary solemn p ro cession s .

O n the sixth day came the gran d I ac chus Pro cession ,

num b erin g thousands o f m ys tae of b oth sexes ; these i ssu

, ,

ing from the S acred Gate wended along the Sacred Road
,

to Eleusis They wore crowns of parsley and myrtle and

.
,

in their hands c arried ears of co rn imp lements o f hus

,

bandry and torches ; for though the p ro cession set out '

b etimes it moved slowly and reach e d th e destination late

, ,

to celebrate the festival in the hallowed night I acchu s .

himself was b elieved to b e the leader o f the procession ,

which was headed by his i m age in the for m o f a b ab e with

co stly toys an d cradle The line o f mar ch lay along the
.

b rink o f th e s ea o ver th e sa m e fl owery fi elds and gras sy

 TH E GR E C I A N M YST E R I E S 55

m eadows o f t h e Th ri as i an p lains which had b een the scene ,

o f the rap e o f Perse p hone The route was fourteen miles .

long but to the parti c ipant s in their festive moo d it was

,

short and beside s they made frequent halts at the various

,

sanct u aries on the way p racticing mysti c rites and offering

,

sacrifices The rude wild chorus of the Hym n to I acchus

.

reso u nded with inte rvals o f animated dances and fl ute

,
~

playing and frequent shouts of I o I a cc hus hail ! B ut as

, , ,
“ ”
we learn from the Frogs of Aristo p hanes the p ro ce s ,

s i o n i s t s meanwhile indulged freely in merriment c h afli n g ,

their fellows and making love to the women and girls It

,
.

was c ustoma ry for women to make the j ourne y i n wains

till a demagogue in the time of D emosthenes p ro cured the
“ ”
abolition of this p rivilege of the rich .

I n the evening of the first day at Eleusis the m ys tae

1n commo n drank of the sacred p otion Kyk e o n by ,

which D emeter was comforted at Eleusis during her wan

dering It was a deco c tion o f b arley wine and grated
.
, ,

c heese ; to these afterward were added one by one honey , , .

milk certain herb s salt and onions

, ,
D uring the three
,
.

succee d ing nights the performing of the mysti c rites and

the initiations took place the p rincipal feature b eing the ,
’
torch processions representing D emeter s s earch for Pers e
-

p hone : during the day t h e Initiates seem to have fasted .

After the initiations the festival was transformed into a

s c ene o f m e rri m ent and gymnastic c o m p etition Pro ba b ly .

the m ys tae returned to Athens pro cessionally and th ere ,

t h e re p ort on the festival was made to the B oule whose ,

non initiated memb ers had first to retire

-
.

It was at these festiv als that the rites of initiati on

into the Eleusinian mysteries were p erformed Initiation .

was in two de g rees viz that o f the Lesser an d that of

,
.
, ,

th e G reater m y s teries Initiatio n into the Less er mys

.
56 M Y S TE R I A

fe rie s t oo k p la c e during the p reli m inary festival an d that ,

into the Greater mysteries either at the g reater festival

next ensuin g or at the g reater festival of a su b sequent year .

The I nitiates of the Lesse r m y steries were called M ys tae ,

those of the Greater mysteries E p o p t ae (th o s e wh o h ave

,

seen ) I t is p ro b able that at b oth o f the annual festivals

.

the mys tae took p a rt onl y in the external cere m onies and ,

that only th e Ep o p tae (o r ade p ts) were admitted into the

Sacred H ouse at Eleusis or inducted into the o ccult mean
,

i n g o f the festivals and c ere m onies : thi s we infer fro m the

ex c eedingly larg e num b er of th e m vs tae .

Th e on e who wished to b e admitted to the myste ries

h ad to ap p l y to an initiated citizen of Athens who by ,

ap p oint m ent o f the authori ties served as mediator be t we en

him and the p riests : hence h e was c alled M ys tago go s ,

guide or sponsor o f the p ostulant As a rule the p ostu

.

l ant was re q uired to b e a H ellene Fo rei g ner s were a d

.

m i tte d only wh en they were men o f di stinction such for , ,

exa m p le as the S cythian philosophe r A n ach ars i s After

,
.

the con q uest o f Greece by the Roman s Roma n citizens ,

sto o d o n e q uality with H ellenes There was no dis

.

crimination on the ground of sex B ut no o ne stained .

wi th blood g uiltines s could b e admitted .

Tho se who ca m e up for admission to the degree of

Ep optes and who as we su pp o se had never entered
, , ,

the My sti c H ouse were left to wander through its

”
.

mazes in pro found darkness m eeting toils and hindrance s

’

, ,

and dangers Then followed rit e s in which th e co urage

.

o f the candidates was sub j ected to the severest tests so ,

”
as to fi ll the m with fear and tremblin g and dread ama z e
“
.

I t is very p ro b ab le th at the terrors of th e test were b or

ro wed fro m the Gre c ian i d e as o f the netherworld B ut .

after t h e d arknes s c a m e b rightne s s after T artarus El y

,
 I N
TH E G R E C A MY ST E R I E S 57

siu m th e Field o f the Blest Th e e p op tes was suddenly

, .

gladdened b y a miraculous l i ght ; smiling p lai ns an d

m eadows invited his footste p s whence we must infe r ,

that the M y sti c H ouse was furnished forth with most

ingenious scenic me c hanism as tra p doors magi c l an s ,
,

tern s and other o p ti c al c ontrivances

, Celestial voi c es .

and h armonies were heard charmin g d an ces were exe

,

c ut e d eye and ear were flattered by a dis p lay of th e utter

,

m ost resources o f G recian art ; and last ca me the m ost i m

pressive scene o f all when the hierop hant thre w o p en th e
'

doo r o f the inmost shrine of D emeter bade th e ep o p tae ,

enter in withdrew the veils fro m the images o f the gods

,

(whose true meanin g was thus made known ) and showed ,

godhead i n its most radiant s p lendor .

That the I nitiates o f the m y steri e s regarded their

c han c e s 1n t he nethe rworld as better than tho se of th e pro
fane we learn not only ro m the sarcasti c Aristophanes ,
”
who in the Fro gs s c ore s the my st ae as i n myrtle grove s
“

they revel amid fl uti n g and dancin g while the pr o fan e ,

wander in darkness and mire lapp ing water like dogs ; ,

b ut the serious minded So p ho c les tells us the same thing

-

in a frag m ent q uoted by Plutarc h : O thri ce b lest th e

“
,

m ortals who have witnessed these solemn rites when the y ,

g o down to Hades : for them alone is there life in the

netherworld : for all others b ootless a fflictio n and misery ”
.

5 . TH E M YST E R I E S O F S A M O TH R A C E .

Next after the Eleusinia the most an c ient and , re

no wn e d o f t h e Gre c ian m yste rie s we re those of t he

Cab iri in the island o f S amothrace W ho the Kab ei ro i
were—men or intermediate bein g s hal f human half
.

, ,

divin e also how many they were no satisfa c to ry c on

, ,
 M Y S TE R I A
”

e l usion h as yet b een rea c hed on these p o m t s B ut they .

date fro m ve ry hi g h anti q uity before the evolution of the

,

several Grecian deities I n Egyp t according to H erod

.
,

“
otus ( I I I
.
, t h ey were wo rshi p ed as sons o f H ep h
aestus (he means Ptah god o f M em p his) ; an d were like
, ,
”
their fat h er figured in the sh ri ne a s Py g mies
, That in .

“
the language o f Phoenicia Kab i ri m m eans the great the ,

m ighty ones is o f no conse q uence for here great i s

”
,
“
,

not used in the sense o f b odily lar g ene s s Neither 1s it .

any ob j e c tion that in Greece the K ab e i ro i are regarded

a s b eings su b ordinate to the g ods : for the earlier gods
ever do take second p lace when new g o d s get f o oting .

I n early Egypti an mythology and reli g ion the Cabiri were

p ers o n i fi c at i o n s o f the stars ; and the m y steries of Samo
thra c e were originally an as t ro myth o l o gy though in time ,

their astral s i gn i fi cat i o n s were fo rgotten Fro m a remark .

o f H erodotus ( I L , that the Athenians got from the

Pelas g ians inha b itin g the islan d o f Samothra c e their c us
to m o f fi gurm g H erme s with the Phallus (and everyone
who has a c q uaintan c e with th e se c ret cult o f the Cab iri
knows what that means) we are led to infer t h at in the
,

Cabiri c m y steries the re p roductive forces of nature played

an imp ortant p art : the s y mbol of tho se forces the Phallus , ,

was emp lo y ed b y the nations of the E ast and fro m the m

p assed to the Greeks who o ri g i nall y had n o leaning
,

toward s u ch o b s cene 1m ag 1n 1n g s The same infere n c e is

.

suggested by Juvenal s remark that in l o ve a ffairs it was

’

the fash ion to swear b y th e Cabiri Fo r initiation into .

the Sa m othra c ian m y steries the novice was required to

su bm it to a p urifi c ation b y fire and to fumigation and to ,

m ake a so rt of confe ssion Plutarch tells o f a Sp artan

.

who at hi s initiation inquired o f the p ri est whether he

s hould c onfes s his sins to hi m o r to th e g ods ; an d on t h e
 TH E G R E C A I N M YSTE R I E S 59

” “
priest replying To the gods ,
Then said the penitent .
, ,
“ ”
give way I will tell it to the g o dhead alone
, Men .
,

women even children were initiated and the p ro fessed

. .

re c eived a purple b an d whi ch they w e re around the body

, ,

in the assurance that by this means they would be safe

against p erils b y sea .

The Greeks used to tell o f their fabled heroes O r ,

p h e u s,
A g amemnon O d y sseus etc that th
, e y were Ini ,

t i at e s o f these mysteries ; and Philip I I o f M acedon and .

his q u een O l y m p ias p arents of Alexander the Great ,

underwent this i n i ti at1o n There were Cabirian myste ries .

also in several other Grecian islands and in several places .

o n the c ontinent b oth in Gree c e and in Asia Minor

, .

6 . TH E M Y ST E R I E S O F CRE TE .

I n the island of Crete were celeb rated the mys ter

ies of Zeus Acco rding to the myth the father o f
.
,

the g ods and lord o f all the wo rld to foil the design s of .

his father Cronos who had devoured all hi s other chil

.

dren was while y et a child taken b y his mother Rhea to

, , ,

that isl and for refu g e and there g uarded in a grotto of

,

Mt Ida and nouri shed with m ilk and hone y by the p eople
.
,

who meanwhile by dealing blows on each other s shields

,
’

kept up su c h a din as drown ed the wailin g o f the b ab e .

I n Crete was also shown a sep ulchre o f Zeus Regarding .

the Cretan mysteries we know this o n l y that in the Sprin g ,

time the birth o f the g o d was co mmemorated at the grotto

and his death at the sep ulchre and that the while th e ,

young p eo p le (who re p resented the Curetae) in armor , ,

with dan ce and son g an d with loud beating of cymbals

an d dru ms ena c ted the sto ry o f the childhood o f Zeus
. .
60 M Y S TE R I A

7 . TH E DI ONY SI A .

An an c ient national cult amon g th e H ellenes into ,

whi c h a m y sti c ele m ent was i m p o rted from wi thout was ,

the worship of D ionyso s or B acchus i e o f the sun as ,

. .
,

p ro motin g the g rowt h o f th e vine : its en d was plainly to

glorify th e p h y sical world the material world in al l its , ,

m a nifestations o f life and forc e H en c e the B a cc hus c ult .

is one p redomin antly materialistic addressed to the sense ,

o f b odily p leas ure the a p p etite for foo d and the s e xual

d esire ; and yet inas m

,

, uc h as vitic u lture like agricult u re , ,

i s o ne o f the fa c to rs o f c ivilization an d as th e D ra m a h ad .

its origin in these D ionysiac festivals it cannot b e denied ,

that for m an v elements of our int e llectual and sp iritual

culture we are indebted to this c ult O f the festival s of .

D ionysos some b elon g ed ex cl u s i ve l v to the pop ular re

li gi o n b ut others were c onne c ted with m y steri es
, Th ose .

o f the former clas s had their c hief seat in Attica, the others
else where O f these non mystic festival s of D ionysos in
.
-

Attica there were seven o ccurrin g in di fferent months o f

,

the year from the season of the vinta g e in Autumn till

,

toward S p rin g or while the new wine was in fermentation ;

,

and so m e o f these festivals were held in the country ,

others in the c ity O n such o cc asion s gy mnastic sports

.

of a ludicrou s so rt were carried on as d ai i ci n g on one leg .

,

leapi ng on a leathern b ag b lown up with ai r and gre ase d

wi th oil outside an d tryin g to maintain e q u ilibrium et c
, , .

A t the head of a p ro c ession co m p o sed o f men and wo m

'

en of all ranks and de g rees were borne th e sa c rificial i m

p l e m e n t s
,
then followed the vi cti m a h e g oat an d soon ,
-
,

ca m e the ima g e of the Phallus b orne aloft with gre a t .

p om p So littl e did the Greek s p o ssess o f o ur p e c uliar

.

s ense o f sh am et h at the y lo oked on thi s s y mbol as so me

 TH E I
G R E C A N M Y TE R E S I S 61

thing entirely p rop er not s c ru p lin g even to sing satiri ca l,

’

verse s about it After the sacrifi c e c ame j esting b anter

.
, ,

travesty and with travest y p antomime in which was

, .

enacted the histo ry of the g o d includin g of co urse h i s ,

fabled adventures The stag e had its ri se in such festi val s

.

as these The S p rin g festival held in the month Anthe s

.
,

t e ri o n ( month o f flowers ) was ke p t with s p ecial solemnity .

It marked the time when the wine was racked o ff into the
earthen p ots It was at this festival that the B asilissa
.

( wife o f the B asileus ) accom p anied by fourteen other ,

women entered the holy o f holie s o f the an c ient temple

,

of Dion y so s ( at all other times women were forbidden to

-

enter it) and there made a secret o ffe ring wi th mysti c rite s
,

an d vows .

B ut we have the genuine m ysteri u m m the D ionysia

‘

Tri e t e ra or triennial festival o f D ionyso s Festivals of

’

, .

this class seem to have o riginated in Thrace and hence ,

amo ng a p eople o f Pelasgian sto ck Th e spirit of the .

Thracians which was naturally o f a gloomy cast b ut

, ,

when their slumbering p assions were awakened b e c ame

wildl y enthusiastic seemed in these festivals or rather , ,

these t rans p o rts o f m eral frenzy to p ass into the p ersons o f ,

the lighthea rted and selfcontrolled Hellenes The mad .

extravaganza of this phen o menon in the history o f man

and hi s wavs is seen in the Grecian hero myth w hich tells -
,

o f the great singer O rpheus and Pentheus kin g of Thebes , ,

being torn limb fro m li m b by th e furious M aenades at

festivals of B acchus the former because after the death o f ,

hi s beloved Eu rydice he never mor e would hear o f wom

an s love and the latter because he had s p ied on t h e festi
’

vals For these festivals were observed by women exclu

.
~

s i vel y who d runken with wine knew no restraints of rea

, , ,

son or human ity : they were called maenades (madwomen)

,

or B acchae and their festivals O rgia ( orgies ) The o rgies

,
. .
 M Y S TE RI A

were c ondu c ted on mountai n sides o r in mountain gorge s

at n ight under the light o f torc he s the fair p articipants , ,

clothed in fawnskins armed with the thyrsus wreathed

,

with ivy an d vine leaves with hair dish eveled and as the
, , ,

story go es snake s tan gled with its lo ck s or held in the

, ,

b ac c hantes hands ’
This festival which o ccurred in the
.
,

mil d midwinter o f H ellas t h e time o f s hortest days and ,

longest nights continued over several days durin g whi ch

, .

the maenads shunning al l asso ci atio n w1th the male S ex

, ,

sacrificed drank dan ced j ub ilated made noise with the

, , , ,

—
double pip e and the b razen tymbal nay as the ( man i , ,

fe s tl y imp robable) sto ry run s with t h e rr own hands tore ,

asunder the b ull symbol o f the god and destined to th e

, ,

sa c rifice and gloated over the victim s b ellowing for p ain

,
’
.

This feat was to show forth the death of Zagreus one o f ,

the form s under which D ionyso s ap p eared an d in which ,

he was torn as under b y the Titan s because he had b een

chosen by Zeus for his successo r as ruler o f the universe .

Th e fles h o f the bull was to rn in shreds with the teeth by

the maenads and devou red raw Then the rav i n g B a c .

chae invented a fable about the death o f thei r god an d , .

h o w he was lost an d how he must b e found agai n B ut .

all the anxiou s searching was vai n and hope was c entered ,

in the finding again o f the all quickening Springtide Th e -

.

ob se rvance o f the D ionysi a was not m arked with these ex

t ravag an ce s e v erywhere : in Atti ca such excesses were
n ever seen B ut Athenian wo men wo uld attend the secret
.

festival o n Parn assus n ear D elphi heedless of the m a ntl e ,

o f sno w o n t h e summit .

8 . TH E R OM A N } B A CC H A NA L I A .

The worst disorders o f B acchus wo rship as p rae -

,

ti c ed in Greece would seem to have b een e q ualed o r even

, ,
 TH E GR E C AI N M YS TE RIE S (33

s u rp assed in the Roman Commonwealth The historian

,
.

Livy (xxxix 8 20) compares the introductio n o f the cult

.
,
-

into the city and its rapid spread to a visitation o f plague .

According to Livy the cult was b rought to Rome from

Etru ri a In its Etruscan an d Ro m an fo rm the wor
.

shi p of Bacchus wa s simply deb auchery under the thin ,

nest p ossible cloak o i religion The festivals o r orgies .

were at first observed by women ; but a certain p riestess

o f Bacchus by command o f the god introduced the inno
, ,

vation of admitting men and instead o f thre e B acchi c

,

fe stivals a year instituted five festivals for ea c h month ;

,

and whereas in Etruria the rite s had been p racticed in

t he day time they now began to b e held at night
,
From .

consideration s o f p rudence the abominations of the Ba c

c h an al i a were guarded from p ublic view by a hedge of

ceremonial and post u lants fo r admi ssion were required

,

to p ractice for several days the strictest c ontinence B ut .

the term o f p robation being o v er and the postulant ad ,

m i tte d to the c omp any of the Bacchan als he o r she found ,

themselves surrounded by all conceivable incitements to

the gratifi c ation of lust in eve ry wa y that the depraved
,

instin cts o f m an or wo m an had ever b efore o r pe rhap s , .

has ever since contrived According to Livy the Initiates

.

of these mysteries numb ered several thousan d persons in

the city many of them b elonging to the most dis
,

t i n g ui s h e d families I n addition to the abominations of

.

their se c ret m eetm g s the Initiates were charged with c o n ~

s p iring against the commonwealth with forgery o f last ,

testaments with poisonings and assassinations with t h e

, ,

most revolting rapes I n the ye ar 1 8 6 B C the Con su l

. . .

Spurius P o s tu m i u s Albinus having privately made i n ,

q u i ri e s into the doings of the sect resolved to employ all ,

the resources o f the state for its sup pression The circu m .
 M Y S TE R I A

stan c es whi c h led to this resolution we re as follows : A

youth o f noble birth Publius A eb uti u s whos e father was
, ,

dead was the ward of his step father Titus Sempronius

, ,

Rutilus . N ow Semproni u s had mismanaged the estate

of A e b uti u s an d was unable to give an account o f his
,

guardianshi p and therefo re wi shed eith er to have the

,

youth put out of the way or to get him u nder his power ,
.

The easiest way was by deb auching him in the B ac ch a

nalia A eb u ti u s s mother devoted to her h u sband pre
.
’

, ,

tended to the son that duri ng hi s illness she had mad e

vow to the go ds to consecrate hi m to B acch u s in the event
o f re c overy A eb uti u s noth ing susp ecting told of this to
.
, ,

one H i s p al a a damsel o f question ab le rep u tation wi t h

, ,

who m he had fo r some time been ve ry intimate ; but she

’
entreated hi m for all the go ds sake not to have anythin g
to do with the B acchanalia : that she herself as mai d had , ,

b een initiated with her mistress an d knew what sho cking ,

deed s were done in those assemblies H aving p romised .

her that he w o uld not seek initiation he made his resolu ,

‘

tion know nt o his p arents and was b y them turned out ,

of their house A eb u ti u s made comp la i nt to his aunt

.

A eb ut i a and by her advice to the Con sul P o s t u m i u s

, .

The Consul summoned H i s p al a to his p resence and from ,

her not without di fficulty for she feared the vengean c e

, ,

of the sect learned what she kn ew o f the p ro ceedings at

,

the secret asse m blies Then he b rou gh t the matter b e .

fore the S enate wh o gave to him and his colleague

, ,

! uintus M arcius Phili pp us full p owers for the s upp re s ,

s ron o f the evil Rewards were o ffered fo r trustwo rthy

.

testimony measures were taken to p revent the es c ap e

,

o f guilty ones and there were numerous arrests Seven

,
.

thousand p erson s in all were im p li cated and all I taly ,

awaited the o utcome of the p rose c utio n intently and with

 TH E GR E C A I N MY ST E R I E S 65

alarm . The ringleaders and a m u ltitude o f their aecom

p l i c e s were p ut to death others were condemned to i m
,

p riso n ment or were exiled A e b u t i u s and

. H i s al
p a re
c e i ve d a large money reward ; and H i s p a l a furthermore

was admitted to all the right s and p rivileges of a Roman

born freewo man witho u t p re j u dice fro m her previous
,

disrep utable career A decree of th e Senate forb ad e for

.

ever the holdin g o f the Bacchanalia in Ro me or in Italy .

The decree p rovided that if any one sho u ld consider s u ch

rite s obligato ry and necessa ry or sho u ld think that h e ,

could not o mit them without incurring the guilt o f irre

l i gi o n he m u st lay the case b efore the Praetor Urban u s
, ,

and the Praetor must consult the Senate I f leave were .

granted in a senate having not less than one hundred

members p resent he (the person desiring to p ractice the
,

worshi p o f the god ) might perform the rites p rovided that ,

not more than five person s were p resent at them and ,

that there was no common fund nor any master o f the ,

cere m onies or p riest All p laces sacred to B acchus wo r

,
.

“
ship were ordered to be destroyed exce p t there b e here ,
”
or there an ancient altar or consecrated image of the god .

B ut the p rohibitio n of the B acchanalia could not be kept

in f o rce p erp et u ally The abuses o f the B acchus cult went
.

on unchecked o u tside of Italy and by degrees s p rung u p,

again even on I talian gro u nd til l they reached the pitch

‘

of ab solute shamelessness in imp erial times as when the ,

notoriou s Me ssalina and other imp erial str u mpets cele

, ,
!

b rat e d the most shocking orgies in the ve ry p alace .

9 . DE B A SE D MY ST E R I E S F R O M TH E EA ST .

Near akin to the D ionysos cult in m any p oints ,

c o m c i d i n g with it as well as with one another and also

, , ,

like the de p raved forms of that c ult surreptitiously intro ,

 M Y S TE R I A

d uce d fro m th e O rient into Greece and then into Ro me ,

we have t h e rn vs te ri e s o f the mother of the go ds Rhea or

Cybele tho se o f M ithras and those o f Sab azios—cults
, ,

and deities that were finally grouped together b y the

O rphi c se c t o f whi ch anon
, .

Rhea was sister and spouse of Crono s and m other o f

th e king o f the gods Ze u s whom she took to Crete as we, , ,

have already seen to sav e hi m from his father s violen c e

,
’
.

She i s the Earth deified like her mother G aea and is , ,

therefore o ften confounded with other goddesses an swer

ing to the same element specially with the earth go ddess ,
-

Kybele ( Cy b ele ) named after Mt Kyb el o s or Kyb el a

,
.

in Ph ry gia who a cc ording to Phrygian myth whe n ex

, , ,

p osed by her father King M aeon was suckled ,

by p an ,

t h ers and b ro ught up b y herdsmen an d afterward fell in ,

love with the youth Attis (afterward Pap as b oth m ean ,

ing o f who m she exacted a vo w o f c hastity as

her p riest Attis having broken hi s vow for the sake o f
.

a lovely nymph th e goddess i n her wrath deprived him o f

,

reason an d in hi s frenzy h e c astrated himself Th e god

,
.

dess thereupon ordained that in future all her priests

should b e eunuchs There are c ountless o ther stories told
.

o f Atti s and Cybele b u t they nearly all agree in telling

,

that Attis with manhood lo st life also and that Cybel e , ,

frenzied b y grief thereafter roamed a b o ut disconsolate and

,

desp ai rin g Like D ionysos sh e was alw ays followed by

.
,

a long human and animal retinue (the moon with the

starry and rode in a wain drawn by lions a mural ,
‘

c rown circling her veiled head ; while Attis was always

represented as an e c statically sentimental youth beneath a
tree with the Phrygi an c ap on hi s head and wearing white
,

bag tro users I n Phrygia Cyb ele was worshi p ed under

.

the fo rm o f a s i m pl e s to ne The s c en e o f h er feats and .

 TH E GR E C A N M I Y ST E R I E S 67

su fferances was laid in gorgeous wildernesses in fragrant ,

groves among the hillsides and gla d es known to the

,

she p herd and the hunter As in D ionyso s we see the wild

.

abandon of a j ovial sp i ri t so in Cybele we have the r e e l :

,

lessness of a soul weary of life ; henc e at her festivals all

c ntred in the loss o f Attis and a p ine tree was felled b e
e
, ,

cause his catastro p he took p lace under a tre e o f that species .

All thi s was accomp anied by a hubbub o f wild music and ,

the winding o f horns on the second day announced the

re s u rrection o f Atti s I n the ecstasy of j oy the p artici
.

pants were seized by a wild frenzy ith sho uts and .

W
cries their long locks disheveled and in th e i r hands b ear
, ,

ing torches the priests danced and c ap e re d l i k e madme n

,
‘

roaming over hill and dale mutilating themselves even , ,

emasc u lating themselves (as the myth re q uired ) and bear ,

ing about instead of the figure o f the Phallus the proo fs

, ,

o f their com p liance with the p rece p t o f the goddess Th e .

c u lt o f Cybele was for the first time formally organ ized as

a mysti c society in Ro me b u t the orgiast frenzy clung to
,

it at all times The p ro cessions did not move with meas

.

u re d step s and in orderly ranks as tho se of other cults , ,

b ut the I nitiates ran in confused troo p s shouting their ,

religious songs through hamlets and to wns armed with

, ,

curved blades tokens o f castration At Rome the p riest s

, .

of Cybele were called Galli that i s cocks I n the time o f

, ,
.

the emperors p u ri fi c ati o n s in the blood o f bulls and rams

were intro d u ced app arently in honor o f the S p ringtide
, ,

when the sun enters the c onstellations Taurus and Aries .

and the vegetable powers o f nature reapp ear That is the .

theme of all the ancient mysteries and indeed of al l m ys t i ,

c i s m from the earliest times to this day I n all o f them .

t h e vicissitudes of the vegetal w orld its sickening decline , , ,

and death in the Fall its new b irth and resurrection in the
,
-
68 M Y S TE R I A

Sp ring are allego rized into the su fferan c es th e death an d

, ,

th e resurre c tion o f a god O ut of thi s nature c ult are

.
-

little by little developed the feeling o f al ienation of man

fro m God the quest for th e god the finding o f hi m an d
, , ,

the c onse quent reunion w i th th e result o f strengthening

,

the assurance of the soul s immortality The excess of sen

’
.

sual delight found in the B ac chanalia and the extreme re ,

n u n c i at i o n o f delights by th e castrate ministers of Cyb ele ,

are only v ariation s o f o n e sa m e theo ry of hu m an life .

N o w as thi su ffering godhead—which was t h e prime

,
s

ins p iration o f all thes e sen sualists an d adventurers was —

an importation from Thra c e in the fo rm o f Zagreus
D ionyso s an d from Ph rygia as Attis s o was Mithras an
, ,

i mportation fro m Persia Among the a ncient Persian s .

M ithra s was the light c on c eived as a p ersonali ty and

-
, ,

hence was th e highest m anifest ation of the good god

O rmuzd while the darkness re p re sented Ahri m an th e
, ,

evil god H ence the wo rship o f M ithras i s worship o f the

.

light and therefore is th e p urest c ult that heathendom

, ,

could i magine ; in the later times of the Persian emp ire

M ithras — w orship was co mbined with sun worship an d -
,

M ithras as sun go d found a pl ace i n the religion o f

,
-
,

Euro pe an p eoples I n th o s e l at e r times also c ame b elief

.

in a female dei ty called M ith ra : but M ithra was unknown

to the p ri mitive Persians and th e na me was a tran s ,

formatio n o f the B abylonian Mylitta the moon goddess ,

-
.

Of the exi sten c e o f se c ret cults amon g the Persians we

know nothi ng whatever hence nothing about any mys,

ter i e s sacred to M ithras To th e Greeks M ithras was u n

.

known but in the latter days o f the Roman empire among

, ,

many mysterie s those o f M ithra s made their ap pearance

and even gamed great p re eminence as i s p roved by -
,

numero u s monuments still extant These monuments all .

 TH E G R E C A I N MY ST E R I E S 69

c onsist o f representation s in stone of a young man in a

cave wearing the Phr y gian cap i n the act o f slayi n g with
, ,

a dagger a bull ; all around are figure s o f men and animal s ,

all symbolical o f constellations as the scorp ion dog ser , , ,

pent et c The group s have b een variously interpreted

, .
,

but the m o st probable view i s that the youth stands for

the sun god who on subduing Tauru s (in May) b egins
-
, , ,

to develop his highest p ower .

Th e mysteries o f M ithr as like th eir symbo l ic rcp re

,

s e n tat i o n in t h e monuments were celebrated in grottoes

,
.
,

and had fo r th eir original end worship o f light and of the

’
sun and the glorifying of the sun s victory over
,

the darkness ; but this lofty idea gave w ay in ,

these as in other mysteries to vain reveries and ,

subtilities ; and in the corrupt age o f the Roman

emp erors it had in all p robability some very ugly
, ,

develop ments such as were seen in the B ach an al i a

, .

The rites o f initiation were more elaborate than in the

Grecian mysteries The postulants we re sub j ected to a
long serie s o f p robationary tests—eighty in all it i s s up
.

posed—whi c h grew more and more severe till they became

,

actuall y dangerous to life Among the initiato ry rites the

.

p rincip al one s were a bap tism and the d rinking o f a p o

tion of meal and water Admission to the highest secrets
.

was reached thro ugh several degrees p ro b ably seven each , ,

At
'

having its special ritu al and its sp ecial doctrines .

time s the Initi ate s were required to fast and those o f the ,

highest degree were vowed to c e lib acyf Su c h abstinences

were all unknown to the ancient Persian s ; on the other
hand h uman sacrifice s came in: wi th M ithrai sm fro m the
East and des p ite the decrees of the Emperor H adri an
, , ,

such s ac rifices were o ffered in the Mithras cult Com .

modus with his own: hand immolated a man to M ithras ,

70 M Y S TE R I A .

and hi s successo rs “ i n particular the monster H elio

g ab a l u s c arried the
,
ab omination farther and m ade of ,

the pure go d o f light a blo od thirsty M oloch N ay after .

,

the empire had b een chri stianized , Julian the apo state
co n secrated in Constantinop le a sanctuary to Mithras .

B ut after the death of Julian the cult was forb idden in

the empire (A D 3 78) an d the grotto o f M ithra s at
. .

Ro me destroyed Coins were struck i n honor o f M ith

.

ras ,
and he was hono red with p u blic inscription s in t h e
words Soli Invicto (to the un conquered sun ) ; a festival
,

al so was instituted in his honor c alled the N atal D ay ,

o f the Un c on quered Sun : it fell o n D e cem b er 2 5th and

was p u b licly ob served : the same day was in Persia New
Y e ar s ’
I n th e monuments already m entioned w hi c h
.
,

commemorate th e worship o f M ithras are seen ins c ri b ed ,

alongside the nec k o f the bull the wo rd s N am al Seb e "‘

sio suppo sed by so m e to b e a mixture of Sanskrit and

,
”

Persian and to signify Worship to the Pure ; but in these

,

words we have an allusion to a new go d and his cult .

.

I n the latter Grae c o Ro m an time when the m ystery c raz e

-
,

p o ssessed all minds a c om b ination o f Zagreus A ttis and , ,

M ithras was made and the result was dubb ed S ab azi us

, .

The name S ab azi u s i s given by sundry writers to various

gods and sons of gods and the word come s p ro b ably
,

fro m the Greek verb S ab azei n (to s m ash b reak to pieces) , ,

indicating the w ild diso rder of this cult D i o d o ru s give s .

thi s n ame to th e inventor o f the use o f o xen in p loughing ,

other authors confound S ab azi u s as dis c overer o f the ,

vi ne with B a c chus Th ere existed in Gree c e a p u b lic

, .

and a se c ret c ult o f S ab azi u s both res em b ling the B a c chic

,

cult with ludi c rous dan c es uproarious sin gi ng and loud

, , ,

thumping o f cymbal s and drums Th e orator Aeschines .

,

rival o f D emosthenes was an enthusiasti c S ab az i s t At

, .
 TH E I
GR E C A N M Y ST E R I E S 71

initiati on into the Sabazian m vs teri e s the p o stulant had

snakes dro p ped into hi s bosom was robed in fawn skin
, ,

hi s face daubed with clay then washed in token o f a

,

mystic p urification ; he was now to exclaim : Fro m evil I .

am escaped and have found the b etter There was much .

hocuspo cu s and ab surd j ugglery withal b ut the real o b

'

i e c t was to give opportunity to I nitiates of both sexes

to indulge i n the mo st shameless gluttony and lewdness .

The p ri ests o f this cult were the most impudent of mendi

cants Ari stop hanes exhausted o n S ab azi u s the trump
.
,

e ry god ,
all the resourc es o f his c au stic sarcasm .

And thus in t ime as Gre c ian philo sophy began to

,

undermine the thrones of the O lympian gods an d to ,

banish the phantoms o f the netherworld and the educated ,

peo p le to look on th e fair forms o f the world of gods as

fictions o f imagination ; simultaneously th e mysterie s
began to be stript o f the glo ry o f a heavenly o rigin an d .

it was seen that their rites were not only of the earth
earthy b ut as time went on that they were b eco me mis
, ,

c h i evo u s : y e t the I nitiates lost to all sha m e and all mo ral

,

sense persisted nevertheless in their sacred hypo c risy till

, ,

heathendo m as a whole had passed out o f the b loody ,

hideous night of the gods .

 P AR T TH I R D .

Th e P y th a g o r e a n L ea gu e an d Oth er S e cr e t

A s s o c i a ti o n s .

I . P Y TH A G O RA S .

The m ysteries so far considered had for thei r fo un

d ation the wo rship o f the gods They were ac c essible
.
‘

o n l v to th e initiated ; b ut c andidates for admission were

not carefully selected ; and i n Athen s anyon e o f fair

repute was eligible for initiation into the Eleusinia N or
do we discern in the mysteries any en d aimed at—any
.

“ ”

idea to b e realized any thought to be em b odied in action

, .

Fro m all that we can learn with c ertainty regarding the

m y steries their obj e c t was either simply to illustrate or
,

interp ret certain ideas ( su c h as we have al ready char

ac t e ri ze d ) b y mean s o f elab orate c eremonies ; o r—i n their
—
state o f decay an d degeneration to minister to unb ridled
'

sensuality . For this reason we cannot regar d the

m ysterie s we have been studying as true se c ret so c ieties
“ ”
,

for the distin c tive note o f such so cieties i s that they make
a sp e c ial sele c tion of their me m bers and have a specifi c
,

aim The e arliest historic instan c e o f su c h a secret so ciety

.

i s afforded by the Pythagorean League .

The great philosopher Pythagoras was a so rt o f

G re c ian M oses or Jesu s a M essiah to who m were as cri b ed
,

72
 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A GU E 73

supre m e wisdo m far reaching plans ideas o f wo rldwi de

,
-
,

reform ; wh o proclaimed new ideas quite unkno wn in ,

the previous histo ry of his nation and p rea c hed a new ,

system o f nature and o f life ; who gathered around hi m

dis c iples that swore in his words and p ursued pec uli ar
ends dis c onnected from the interests o f this world ; who
on that a c count was with hi s disci p les p ersecuted pris
, , ,

oue d an d martyred for his p rinci p les b y a world w h i ch

, ,
-

deemed i t sel f outraged ; and whose history be c ause o f its ,

extraordinary character became dee p ly incru sted with

,

fable and fiction till at l ast there was left o n l y a figure

,
'

in which if not q uite imp ossible it i s certainly di fficult to

, , ,

decide h o w far it confo rms to the truth .

P vt h ag o ras was born in the island o f Sa m os B C . .

5 8 0
,
or ,
a c cording to some authorities 6
5 9 H e i s re p re ,
.

sented as of disting ui s h ed p resence and im p osing stature .

That he p ossessed uncommon intellectual power is shown

b y his scientific discoveries and b v hi s wo nderf u lly o rgan ~

i ze d di s c ipleship Even in his youth ful years it is related

.
, ,

he busied himself with hi s favorite sciences mathematics ,

and music the mutual relations o f which and their mutual

,

influence he is in fact believed to have discovered H is

years o f study ended—o i them we have no definite knowl
.
, ,

- o

—
edge his y ears o f travel followed And whither should .

a man in his day athirst for wisdom direct hi s step s i f not

, ,

to the l and o f wonders on the Nile where the veile d ,

image at Sai s sat enthroned and whe re the mysti c silence

,

o f the priests suggested to the visitant tre asures of knowl

edge hidden i n their temples ? Whether the counsel to
‘

visit Egypt c ame fro m Thales first o f Grecian phil ,

o s o p h ers to seek the lan d o f Nile tradition which -

,

gives the glamour to everything likes to b ring reno wned ,

men together ; whether Polycrates t yran n o s of Sa m os , ,

 IVI Y S TE R I A

co mmend ed him to his friend the Pharao A m as i s—o f

this we h ave no certainty though the thing is not i m
,

p ro b able for the chro nology i s consistent especially when

, ,

w e b ear in mind the di screpan cies b etween authors as to

the year of Pythagoras s b irth : at all events Pythagoras
’
,

voyaged to Egypt The serious d i ffi c ul ti e s h e met with

.
-

on the part of the p riests o f O siri s then not so com ,

plaisant as they afte rward b ecame we have described ,

already when giving account o f the Egyptian mysteri es .

By h o o k or b y crook h e obtained wheth er at Th eb es

'
, ,

Heliop olis or el sewhere we know not indo ctrination in

, , ,

th e t h eolo gy o f the O ne God B ut of what avail could

.

that b e to him ? H i s countrymen had already fashioned

their own ideas of the divine nature They b ased their .

th eology on nature and spiritualized nature : the G reeks

knew n othing o f an impassable gulf yawning b etween
god an d world ; for them these two were b o un d to ge ther
and p erv aded each other : to such a p eo p le one could not
p reach an “
archite c t of the universe Pythagoras
. there ,

fore fain would communicate to the Greeks o f th e E gyp

, ,

tian wi sdo m whatever seemed adapted to their use ; an d

he the more Willingly complied with the I nitiate s o ath to ’

ob serve lifelong silence regarding what he had seen and

h eard in the temples as his countrymen would not have
,

understoo d even a monotheis m spe c ially designed for

them Fo r the Greeks the intimate asso ciation b etween
.

god and universe was not only an idea it was flesh o f ,

t heir flesh b one o f their b ones : it was gloriously i m m o r

t al i z e d in the imperishable maste r works of their archi

tecture and sculpture and s urely Grecian scul p tors must
not go to s c ho ol i n Egy p t to learn h o w to carve cows ’

’
horns and hawks heads Nevertheless the doctrin e o f
.
,

the one god must ne c essarily have impressed the mind o f

 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A G U E . 75

P y thagoras deepl y : he must have re cognized therein a

profound philo sophy though it may not have satisfied
,

him com p letely ; and hence it was his task as it was the ,

task of Plato and o f all other G reeks initiated in the

Egyptian m y sterie s to expound the doctrine o f the one
,

god a c cording to Grecian ideas—to c ouple O riental wis

do m with Grecian fancy .

The traditional story rep resents Pythagoras as t arry

m g in Egy pt when the Persian kin g Cambyses con q uered
the country and tells how that tvran t had the Grecian
,

p h i l o s c h c r deported
p with other
, captives to B abylon , ,

where Pythagoras b ecame acquainted with Zo roaster and ,

to his knowledge of the Egyptian wisdo m now added a

mastery of the wisdom of the Persians Pythagoras was .

undou b tedly contemporary with Cambyses ; but the time

o f Zoroaster is so undecided that the sto ry must b e re
garded as fiction .

When he return ed to his native Samos purp osing to ,

set up as a master he found to his chagrin that inde

,

pendent science is a p lant that does not thrive under

tyra n ny and compelled by force o f circumstan c es to
, ,

change his abode he settled in Magn a Grae c i a Southern

,
—
Italy O n the eastern coast in what became afterward
.
,

C alabria were two Achaean cities Sybaris and C ro to n a

, ,
.

Pythagoras intended at first to make his home in Sybari s ,

b ut Sybari s could be n o congenial ho m e for such a phil ‘

o s o p h er
. Cro t o n a a ffo rded a more promising field for
his work and there the labors o f Pythagoras b efore long
,

were a b undantly rewarded The Greeks ever were eager.

fo r noveltie s (n o varu m rerum cupidi) an d whoever ,

brought anything new was welcome As yet philo sophy .

,

was a thing unknown among the Cro to n i at s ; therefore

they received its apostle with gladness an d enthusiasm .
 M Y S TE R I A

Pythagoras c o mmenced by giving p ubli o lectures in th e

council hall ; as these awakened more and more interest
eve ry day the p hilosopher was employed by the autho r
,

ities to give counsel to the citizens ; he then established a

school thus ad d ing to hi s p ublic func tions the duties o f a
,

p rivate instructor Pythagoras used three agencies in hi s

.

work viz his D o ctrine his School an d the Leag ue i n

,
.
, , ,

stituted by him .

The D octrine o f Pythagoras holds a distin c t place

among the p h i IO S O p h i c systems o f the Greeks With re .

gard to the opp osition existing b etween the spiritual and

the physical and the uncertainty and ob scurity that reign s
,

as to the rel at i o n s b etwe en them and the true constitution

‘

o f each the doctrine solve s all di ffi culties by the theory

,

that Nu mb er i s at once the form and the sub stance of all

things All things consist of Numbers corp oreal ele
.
,

ments a s well as s p iritual ( mental or intelle c tual ) forc es , ,

and hen c eforth Pythago ras s philo sophy b ecam e mathe ’

maties B ut the silly trick s with numbers that o ccup ied

.

the ingenuity of later Pythagorean s p osses s no in t erest for

u s It is pro b a b le that the master contented himsel f with
.

the undeniable fact that th e matter an d essence o f things

—
rest o n mathematical relations a V iew of great pro
fu n d i ty considering the age in which the philosopher
,

lived To Pythago ras and his school are credited the dis
.

tinction of num b ers into even an d o dd the decimal ,

numeration s q u are and cubi c numbers as also the famou s

, ,

Pythagore an theorem t h e triumph o f geo metry ,

.

Pythagoras b rought musi c into closest relation with

mathemati c s As in numb ers h e reco gnized the mo st
.

p erfe c t h armony so he must needs regard harm ony o f

“ ”
,

sounds as a necessary part o f the harmony o f numb ers .

By thi s asso ciation he b ecame the dis c overer o f our pres s

 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A GU E 77

—4
ent scale o f seven musical notes the octave B ut his .

i dea o f harmon y fo und most p erfect embodi m ent in the

universal creation and in astrono m y he wa s the fi rst to
,

surm ise that the earth does not stand still b ut h as a; ,

revolution around a centre ; hen c e that it i s not th e p rin ,

~

c ip al existence in the universal frame o f things that all ,

t h i n g s d o not exist for its sake that Ea rth is not twin

‘

sister o f the H eavens True Pythago ras had n o idea

.
, ,

nor could have in the then existin g lack of astronomical

instruments how the heavenly bodie s wer e related : that
,

was the discovery o f Copernicus and Kepler H e took .

for the mid point of the universe a central fi re out o f

-
”

which were formed all the heavenly bodies—this the seat .

o f t h e p o wer that sustains the world the centre o f gravity ,

o f all things Around this central fi re revolve the ten

.
“ ”

—
heavenl y b odies farthest o ff the heaven o f the fixed stars ,

then the five planets known to anti quity then the sun , ,

“ ”
moon earth and lastly the counter earth which re
, ,
-
,

volves b etween the earth and the c entral fire Revolving .

alo n g with the earth the coun ter earth i s always inter
,
-

posed between the earth and the central fire : light c omes
to t h e earth only indirectly by reflection fro m the sun , .

When th e earth is on the same side o f the central fire as

the s u n we have d ay ; when it i s on the other side nig ht , .

Thus Pythagoras may be said to have surmised a c entral

,

sun though his theory d i d not contemplate the actu al sun

as that c entre H e was also the first to e xplain the vicis
.

s i t ud e s o f the seasons by the obli quity o f the earth s axis

’

to the eclipti c Further he dis c overed the identity o f the

.
,

m orning and evening star Hi s school held the moon to

.

be the ho m e o f fai rer and larger plants ani m als an d h u , ,

m an creat u res than those o f eart h

, I n a c cordance with
11 18 d o c trl n e o f harm ony he venture d to exp ress the bold
,
 M Y S TE R I A

idea that t h e heavenly b odies by their movement produ c e

tones which togeth er constitute a perfe c tly harmonious
musi c — the musi c o f the s p heres We do not hear this .

harmony b eing so wonted to it

, .

Nor did he fail to ap p ly to the soul o f man this d o c

trine o f harmony B v harmony the oppo sition b etween
.

reason and p assion was to b e reconciled B ut as this .

con summation i s never to b e achieved as long as soul

and body are tied together th e sage o f Samos regarded ,

this union as a measure o f p robation destined to endure ,

till man shall have made himself wo rthy o f liberation

from the s ame ; an d when he fails o f this durin g his sp an
o f life then hi s soul must migrate through the b odies o f
,

other men and animals till it shall b ecom e worthy o f

leading in a higher regio n of light an in corp oreal life o f
, ,

p urity and perfection H i s disciple s furthermore c her

.
, ,

i s h e d th e fantastic i dea that the master was able to r e c o g

nize i n another body th e man who se soul had t ran s m i
grated into it That Pythagoras himself ever pretended
.

or believed that he himself was in his fifth metem ~

p sychosis o r that he was son o f Apollo o r that he had

, ,

a golden hip o r a golden thigh are either ridiculous ex

, ,

t ravagan zas o f imaginative disci p les or the sarcasti c

s tories o f his enemies B ut noble and beautiful are the
.

conclusio n s which he draws from his do c trine regarding

p urity of life namel y the moral p recepts which he lai d
, ,

down for the attainment o f the sup reme end They re .

quired an absolutely stainles s life Pythagoras enfor c ed .

the duty o f reveren ce toward p arents and the aged fidelity ,

in friendship strict self examination c ircumsp ection i n

,
-
,

all our acts patriotism etc Further his disciples were

, ,
.
,

req u ired to be cleanly o f b ody and cleanly in attire ; they

were to abstain from all unclean food espe c ially fl esh

” “
,
 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N LE A G U E 79

meat and from intoxi cating liquors and hen c e to live o n

, ,

b read and fruits only but b eans were an excepti o n to

.

this rule : for some not fully explained reason b ea ns were

an ab omination to the Pythagore an s And that which .

was unfit as food was unfit also as matter for o fferings to

G o d : for the go d our philosopher reveren c ed was a go d
of light and pu ity H i s c lear intelle c t rej e c ted poly
r .

theis m though what his V iew o f the unity of godhead

,

was we know nothing save that hi s faith was an eminent

ly pu re and exalted one .

2 . TH E P Y TH A G O R E A NS .

The life o f Pythagoras was devoted enti rely to hi s

S c hool and his League The Schoo l was the s ee d fi el d
.

o r seminary o f the League and the League was the p rae ,

tical appli c ation o f the School s teaching ’

Thus th e .

School was p rep aratory to the League whose m emb ers ,

were educated in the School .

Pythagoras enj oyed the boundless reveren c e of his

discip les when they wi shed to assert any proposition as
indisp uta b ly true they would say H e himself said it
, ,

( G. r ,
autos e p h e L at
,
i p se dixit ) A
, nd this reverence .

for the Master increas ed as in time the Scho ol was

changed from an open institution to a se c ret o ne Fo r .

at fi rst everybody even the mo st learned an d most emi

,

nent o f the c itizens attended the lecture s o f the P h i l o s o

,

pher Those who were simply hearers o f the le c ture s

.

were c alled A cus m ati c s (ak u s m ati ko i) B ut those who .

were o f p roper age fo r re c eiving a further educati on an d ,

who had leisure to devote themselves to learning were ,

a ffo rded oppo rtunity for p ursuing higher studies unde r

t h e personal direction o f Pythagoras and were k n own , ,
 M Y S TE R I A

not as simple H earers but as Students or M ath em at i ci

, ,
.

These were the n u cleu s of the Pythagorean sect This .

class o f disciples h aving grown c onsiderably in numbers

a n d in fluence it b ecame po ssible for Pyth agoras helped
, ,

by the contributions that flowed in to ere c t for hi s ,

academy a sp e cial b uilding or rather group o f b uildings , , , ,

in which he and hi s disciples might live secluded from

t h e in fl u ences of the o u t e rwo rl d Thi s institution called .
,
“

the Ko i n o b i o n ( coenobium place where p eople live in ,

co mmunity ) was a world in itself and emb ra c ed all the ,

—
conveniences o f plain living gardens groves pro me , ,

nades halls b aths et c so that the st udent did not regret

, , ,
.
,

the hurlyburly o f the world without H encefort h the .

A c u s m at i c i or A c usti c i were no longer persons o f all

, ,

classes an d degrees admitted to attend the lectures b ut

, ,

the newly admitted p upils who re ce 1ve d instruction in the ,

elements o f the scien c es and were prep aring them selve s ,

for the higher studies They had to ob serve strict silenc e

.

and to yield blind obedience and were not p ermitted to ,

see the Master s face : at the lectures a c urtain s c reened

’

him fro m view The advan ced students were admitted

.

behind the screen and hence were called e s o teri k o i

,

( esoterici,
insiders ) : tho se before the curtain e x o t e ri k oi ,

( exoteri ci outsiders) To gain admission to the esoteri c

, .

class a pup il was required to sp end fro m two to five years

in study and then had to undergo s evere tests - If a
, _
.

student failed to answer the tests he was rej ected : but if

he p assed su cc essfully he was no longer re quired t o ,

ob serve silen c e and to b e content with listening only :

he might now see the M aster face t o face and under h i s ,

direction might pursue a study cho sen by himself as ,

philosophy mathematics astronom y musi c etc Gym

, , , ,
.

nasti c exercise was p racticed diligently and was m ade ,

 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A G U E 81

th e c ornerstone o f the Pythagorean therap euti c , which

fo r the rest was a science of dietetic .

These ap proved and tested students fo rm ed the c ore

o f the celebrated League which in conformity with the
, ,

division o f t h e p upils in the School comp ri sed Exote rics ,

and Esoterics . The Esoteri c members o f th e League

were no doubt the students admitted to the higher
, ,

classes as well as the graduates of th e school : probably

,

t h e number of the se never exceed ed 3 00 B ut to be come .

an Exoteri c member o f the League anyone was q ualifie d ,

who was a followe r o f the Philo so p her an d who was ,

ready to live according t o hi s teachin g an d to spread the

knowledge of the doctrine abroad : o f these there may
have been several tho u san d Their mo de o f life was left
.

to their discretion while o n t h e contra ry the Esoterici

, , ,

were bound by strict rules They lived in the Co enobium

.
,

always wore clothes of white linen washed and bathed ,

daily in cold water at their common b oard ab stained from

,

the meats and drinks forbidden b y the Master and p ut i n ,

practice his do ctrine They divided the day among their

.

various duties meditating mo rni ngs how they migh t

, , ,

employ the hours mo st p rofitably an d even i ng question

,
s

ing themselves how their good resolutions had b een kept .

H ar m on y that foundation idea of the Pythagorean do c

-

trine was the lo destar of their lives They studie d to b e

, .

j ust toward all men toward the erring stri ct an d kindly

, ,

faithful to friends and yokemates to the law sub m issive, ,

toward the unfo rtunate charitab le temperate in their ,

pleasu res ; to keep their plighted word and in their b e ,

havior to set a goo d example to all men Th e League .

is said to have comp ri sed several se c tions b u t whether ,

“
the sections were degrees rising one above another or ,

Whether the y were c o o rdinate branches is no t clear We

-
, .
 M Y S TE R I A

hear o f M ath em at i c i who devoted themselves specially , .

to the sciences o f Th e o ret i ci who were p ro fessors of

, ,

ethics o f Politici concerned with govern ment of Sebas

, , ,

tici whose provin ce was religion The religi on o f the

, .

Pythago reans seems to have been comp ounded o f doc

trines o f the ancient popular religion o f the Greeks of the ,

mysteries and of the monotheism of the Egyptian p riest s ;

,

and it had a secret cult with elab orate ceremoni al o f i n ,

i t i at i o n the purp os e o f wh i ch h o weve r was to enforce

, , .
,

the teaching of the M aster .

The p olitical p rinciples o f the Pyt h agoreans favore d

a transformation o f the D o ria n oligarchism into an aris
to c rat i s m o f culture D emo cracy they hated Their aim
. .

was to acquire for themselves p owerful influen c e in the

the state to fill the p ublic o ffices with their own memb ers
, ,

and to administer government acco rding to their M as ~

’
ter s ideas As matter o f fact the y appear to have at
.
,

t ai n e d these ends fully or ap p roxim ately in C ro t o n a ,

Lo cri M et ap o n tu m Tarentum and other cities o f Mag

, , ,

n a Grae c i a There is no doubt that the secret s that the

.

Pythagore an s were s worn to keep h ad reference to the se

p oliti c al aims To b ar out
. th e uninitiated the mem
bers are sai d to have had a badge a fi ve pointed star
‘

,
-

(p e n tagram m o n pentalpha) and to h ave emp loyed a sym

,

b o li c for m o f speech by means of which they concealed ,

their secrets under cover o f apparently trivial words or ,

words not to be understo od by outsiders .

B ut the League o f the Sage o f Cro to n a after a glori ,

ous though brief as c enden cy had a tragi c end

, ,
Th e ,
.

c ities o f M agna Grae ci a had grown rich b y co mmerc e ,

an d with w ealth and ease had come great co rruption of

m anners I n Sybaris the lower classes of citiz en s arti —

—
.

s an s and shop keep ers ro se in revolt and five hundred ,

 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A GU E 83

patricians were banished their p roperty seized b y the ,

people and the pop ular leader Tel ys admini stered th e

,

government in their stead Th e exiles took refuge in .

C ro t o n a and there acco rding to Grecian c ustom sit

, , ,

ting around the altar i n the agora or market place i m , ,

p l o re d the aid o f that cit y then ruled by the Pythagorean s , .

Thus for two reasons the rulers o f Cro t o n a were o b j ects

o f hate to the tyran n o s o f Sy b ari s : they were the enemies
of demo cracy and th ev were protectors of the exiled o l i
,

g a rc h s .He therefore demanded

,
o f C ro t o n a surrender
,

o f the fugitives Th e demand having b een refused (at

.

the urgent instance o f P y thagoras it i s said) war fol ,

lowed A desp erate battle was fought and the Croto n

.
,

i at s though inferior in number were victo ri ous ( 5 1 0

, ,

B. Sybaris fell into their hands an d was looted ,

witho ut mercy , an d the town leveled with the ground : in

fact a stream was made to flow through the o n c e mag
,

n i fi c e n t city .

This atro cious deed whi ch though no c on sequ ence ,

o f Pythagorean tea c hing was nevertheles s a consequence ,

o f Pythagorean exclusiveness and Pythagorean contempt

for the people had its nemesis The democrati c spirit
, .
,

so mortally o ffended to ok an equally atro c ious revenge ,

.

I n Cro to n a too as b efore in S y baris the demo cracy too k

, , ,

action and demanded a division o f the conquered S yb ar

,

ite territory among all the citizen s o f Cro t o n a and e qual ,

s u ffrage fo r all in the election of the rulers At the head .

o f the de mocracy stood Cylon an enemy o f the Pyth a ,

o r
g e an s The aged Master because o f the hostility man i
.
,

tested toward him personall y was obliged to flee from ,

the scene o f hi s great lab ors It i s sup p osed that he died .

at M etap o n tu m hard o n a hundred years old I n Cro

, .

tona the stri fe o f p a rties went on The government u n .

 M Y S TE R I A

wisely rej e c ted the demands o f the demo c rats and there ,
!

u pon about the m iddle o f the fifth century

,
B C the . .,

s torm b urst . The rage o f the oppressed and despise d

peopl e was vented first upon th e Pythagoreans a great ,

number of whom were assem b led in the house o f Milo .

The house was taken b y storm t h e as sem b lage b ut c hered ,

either on the s p ot o r in flight an d their prop erty dis ,

tributed among the p eople Ari sto c ra c y was also over

'

- 1
.

thrown i n Tarentum M etap o n t u m an d Lo cri

,
The , .

Pythagorean League wa s annihilated and its religious ,

and p oliti ca l labors disappeared lea ving no trace , .

3 . TH E O R P H I C I .

The s c attered fragments o f th e Pythagorean Leagu e

attached themselves to another asso ciation that o f the ,

O rp h i c i named after the fabled singer O rpheus

, This .

curious association a fantasti c compound o f the mysterie s

,

an d Pytha gori sm i s ri ghtly credited to O n o m ac ri t u s ap os

, ,

tle an d refo rmer o f the Eleusinian an d D ionysian m ys t e r

ies who lived in the time o f t h e Athenian tyran n o s P i s i s
,
~

t rat u s : he was h igh i n the favor o f Pisi stratus an d enj oyed ,

m uch celeb rity . B y some of his contemp oraries , men of

s ense and not easily imp o sed on h e was susp ec ted o f ,

p al min g o ff hi s own co m p osition s for poems o f O rpheu s

( who never existed ) ; b ut p robably he did this w ithout
intent to deceive b ut simply because of his irresistible
,

p assion fo r the mummery of secret societies and myster i es .

This adventurer and m y stic who understood ve ry well ,

th e meaning o f the mysteri es and the uses to whi c h they

could b e turned was one of the first to speak o ut the
,

thought h idden in them : that man was b orn in sin and

fallen away fro m God an d that he c annot b e saved till
,
 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A GU E 85

gra c e shall b e a fforded him H is do c trine was j ust Piet .

” “
ism with th is exception that in stead o f the lord Jesus
, ,

we have here the go d D ionyso s o r the I a c cho s o f the ,

m ysteries or O rpheus
,
Such inane babblement as this
.
,

and such doctrines as that t h e soul o f man is c onfined

in the body as in a prison that the wo rld i s for it a val e
,

of tears and a place o f b anishment that it is p ining an d ,

longing to return to its t r ue home Heaven are an o i , ,

fe n s e to the j oyous spirit o f Gre ece an outrage against ,

her religion o f beauty truth and vi rtue the last blow

, , ,

dealt at Grecian art and s cience The outcome o f them .

was a tedious voluminous O rphi c literature consisting

,
” “

o f mythological poems full o f mysticis m and s en t i m en

tality .

The O rphi c societie s were not like the m yste ries , ,

great assemblages o f people i n temples but after the , ,

Pythagorean pattern s e cret schools o r club s ; and they

,

follo wed at least ostensibly the Pythagorean rule of life

, , ,

ab staining fro m fl es h m e at b eans and wine ; b ut with , ,

this they coupled two c ults in themselves inco mpatible ,

that o f the ideal go d Apollo and that of the sensual deity ,

’

D ionysos B ut being stript o f the semi p ub l i c an d o fficial

.
-

c h rarac t e r attaching to the mysteries and o f the p hilo ,

sophic di gnity of the Pythagore an sect the O rp hic so ,

c i e t ie s b ecame simp ly nes ts o f swindlers and mendic ants

and vagabond p riests O rp h e o te l e s tae admitted to their

, ,

ridiculous degrees for a consideration ev e ry credulous

, ,

and m arvel g o bb eti n g p ost u lant ; there w

-
ere even victims
who had t hemsel ves wi th wife and children initiated eve ry
m onth O ther tri cksters combined the O rphic cult with
.

the Ph rygi an cult of Cybele mother o f the gods and ’

, ,

with that o f Sab azio s : th es e we re known as M etragyrt ae

( m other b eggars ) or M en agyrtae ( monthly beggars)
-
.
 M Y S TE R I A .

These an d their like were regul ar mounte b an k s giving out ,

that they had the power o f curing the insan e their method ,

being to d an ce and caper aro und the patient to the so und

of timbrels the while fl agel l ati n g themselves : for this
,

they took up a little collection O ne o f these m etragyrt ae .

w a s cap itally punished at Athens in th e middle o f the

fi fth century B C : but the j udges seized by remorse
. .
, ,

questioned th e oracle and got resp onse that in atonement

,

they shoul d b uild a temple to th e Great M oth er : thereupon

the followers o f the dead j uggler were set free A .

priestes s o f Sabazios Ninu s by name was also put to

, ,

death for b rewing p hilters : she was the one sole victi m of
wit c hcraft trials in all anti quity Thus did the O rphi c .

se c t in Greece degenerate to the s am e low estate as the

m ysteries desp ised by all honest and enlightened men
,
.

B ut both th e mysteri es an d the O rphi c as well as

Pythagorean societies were links in a chai n o f p heno mena
that reached all through G recian anti q uity indi cating ,

plainly a reac tion against the p opular religion and an c i ,

fort to introduce essenti ally different religious vi ews

vie ws which in afte rtimes in an imp roved for m were to,
’

triumph definitely over the O lympian gods .

4 . MY ST E R I O US P E R S O NA G E S O F A N C I E N T TI M E S
'
.

In we are able to distinguish three religious

an t i qu i ty
‘

systems ,
monotheism mysticism Th e ,
.

first was a d e i fi c at i o n o f nature : and as nature manifest s

h erself i n various forces the religion too had to p ostu
, , ,

late a m ultitude o f deities This is t h e system of the

.

O rien t al and Grae co Ro m an pop ular religion ; and in

e

these its two b ranches it i s again di fferentiated by the fa ct

that on the o n e side it assu m ed a gloomy awe inspiring ,
-
 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A G U E 87

character while on the other side it wore a j oyous aspect

, ,

inviting to mirth and pleasure The s econd system rested .

o n a total sep aration o f God from nature and thu s it ac ,

quired a monotono us one sided character o f ab struse

,
-

ness without an y feeling for form an d be au ty : it was the

,

system o f the Egyptian p riests and of the I sraelites and in ,

after times p assed over into M ohammedanism and some

Christian sects as Un itarianism etc Th e third system , .

a lso p ostulated the separation of Go d and nature b ut it ,

was not a definitive se p aration for there was hope of a ,

reconciliation ; it consisted therefore in a sen se of aliena

, ,

tion fro m God and in an in c essant longing for reunion

,

with him This system found emb odiment in the G re c ian

.

mysteries and the P yth ago reo O rp hi c so cieties and later -

,

“ ”
in po sitive Chri s tianit y : it was neither absolutely p oly
theistic nor a b solutely monotheistic b ut compact of these ,

two systems in that it contemplated many gods e m

,

braced under one fo rm or one god manifested in sund ry,

form s Even in the myths underlying the Eleusini an

.

mysteries we have a conversion o f the go ds especially ,

D e m ete r an d D ionyso s into human form and a re s u rrec

,

tion and ascension of Persephone ; an i mp o rtant p art was

p layed in the same mysteries by the bread and wine em
ploye d for religious p urp oses by the p uri fi catio n s in .

water and b y the fasts observed ; in the B a cchi c mysteri es

,

O rpheus Zagreus and others appear as su ffering and

, ,

dying demigod s ; in the O rphic rite s there is allusion to

the natural sinfulnes s o f man and to gra c e and re d e mp ,

tion ; in the mysteries o f Cyb ele sexual c ontinen c e is co m

n e n d e d as highly meritorious in the mysteries and in
the Pythagorea n se c t even as m Chri stianity the b o dily
, ,

life i s regarded as an evil an incorporeal immortality ,

o i th e s oul a s true b l i s s h stre ss i s laid o n th e s ou l s

’
'

,
88 M Y S TE R I A

delights and on the p uni shment o f the wi cked w he reas in

, , ,

p olytheism the soul after death is b ut a shado w ; and

many are the other points o f contact b etwe en tho se sys
te m s and Chri sti anism whi c h b eing o f a more general
, ,

nature have not y et b een mentioned in these p ages for

, ,

example certain myste rious and enigmati cal personage s

,

who have remained hitherto quite unnoticed ex c ept b y ,

th e learned .

Commonly schools and the books give inform ation

o nly ab out th e o ffi ciall y re cognized O lympian gods an d ,
“
p erhap s the go ds o f s ea an d netherworld ; b ut the B est
'

G od in Greek A ri s tai o s i s p assed over in silen ce j ust

,
”
, ,

b e cause one knows not what to make o f him Th is .

A ri s tai o s p assed fo r a s o n of Apollo the go d o f light H eld .

ap art fro m the s candalous c hro ni c les and naughty gos

”

sip that was in circu l atio n aro und the rest o f the gods
—
,

he was rep rese n ted as invento r o f sheep husbandry b ee ,

keep ing the pro du ction o f oil from the o live etc as
, ,
.
,

m an s hel p er in drought and aridity p racticer o f lee c h

’

craft (like his brother Aes c ulap ius) sub duer o f th e winds , ,

o ri ginator of rites l aws and sciences

, ,
As the little .

vogue of hi s name would indicate he was le ss honore d ,

on the Gre c 1an terra fi rm a than in the H elleni c islands and

i o l o n i e s and there o fttime s was j oined with the fath er of
c ,

the gods as Zeus A ri s tai o s (p articularly in his role o f pro

,
-

tector o f the bees ) with the god o f light as A ri s tai o s

,

Ap ollon with th e go d of fertility as A ri s t ai o s D ionysos

,
-
.

In the i slan d Ceo s he was the mo st highly reverenced of

all the gods Thu s we see in A ri s tai o s a concep tion of
.

o n e almighty allwis e god trans c ending all the c o n c e p

, ,
~

tions of p olytheism and all th e gods in human form wor

,

s h ip e d b y a n cient Greece .

No w p lainly Aristeas and A ri s tai o s are one sa m e

 TH E P Y TH A G O R E A N L E A G UE . 89

name Among the ancient Greeks there was a mythical

.

’
personage named Ari steas H e was Apollo s p riest as .
,

his p aro n ym us was Apollo s son According to H erod ’

.

o tus ( IV 1 3 1 5) Aristeas wa s of P ro c o n ne s u s an isle in

‘

-
.
,

the Proponti s ( sea o f M armora) son o f C as t rp b i u s ; in the ,

sacred trance received the inspiration o f Apollo j ourn eyed ,

into S cythia ( no rth o f the Black S e a) and died in hi s ,

,
—
native p lace in a fulling mill Th e pl ac e having b e en .

closed after his de ath a citizen of the neighboring town

,

o f Cyzicus who ha p p ened to b e p assing declared that he ,

had j ust before met Aristeas i n that town and sp oken

with him The mill doo r was then opened but no trace o f
.
,

Ari ste as was there Seven years afterward he app eare d

.

again in P ro co n n e s u s th ere com p o sed p oem s on his j our

,

ney to Scythia (which Hero dotu s read ) and disapp ear ed ,

a second time B ut 3 40 y ears l ater he was seen at

.

M e tap o n tu m in lower Italy where h e ordered t h e c itizen s

, ,

to erect to Ap ollo a statue with his name ; then h e dis

ap p eared for go od O n questioning the oracle at D elphi
.

what they should do the b urghers o f M e tap o n tum were

,

counseled to ob ey the p recept of Aristeas ; whi ch they

did . Herodotus saw the statue surrounded by laurel
“
trees This B est of Men ever reapp earing and ano n
.
, ,

disappe aring without leaving any vestige o f bodily pres

,

ence is no doubt eviden c e o f a pre Christian need o f a

,
- '

son of go d rising fro m th e dead and ascending into

heave n ; as far as it goes it i s also an argument for th e
,

reality o f resurrection fro m the dead and fo r th e unio n

o f the divine and human .

B ut not only o c curren ces which call to m ind the

Christian Son o f God b ut even his very name appe ars i n
,

Gre c ia n anti q uity ; an d indeed the name antedates

t h e o c c urren c es H o m er ( O dyssey V
. and H esiod , .
90 M Y S TE R I A

( Theogony 9 69) mentio n Jasion or J as i o s ( na m es c lo s ely

resembling the H e b rew J o shua an d Jesus) a son o f Zeus , ,

who had a sister H arm onia an d who wit h the goddess

’

D emeter (the earth or fertility) p ro duced out of a thri c e

,

p l o wed field Plutus (wealth ) : me aning th at th e dis c overer

of husba n dry b ecame discoverer o f thrift B ut i n p un .

i s h m en t o f his sacrilegious love o f a g o ddess Zeus struck

hi m dead with a thunderb olt yet at the sa me ti m e assigned ,

him a pla c e among th e god s As b eloved o f th e Eleusini an .

goddess J as i o s after initiati on into the m ysteries by Zeu s

, ,

him self b ecame the ind e fati gabl e herald o f the mysti c
,

do ctrines Says D i o d o ru s (V
.
“
We al th! i s a gift i m .

p arted th ro ugh th e i ntermedi ation of J as i o s It is .

known o f all that these gods ( D emet er J as i o s an d P luto s) , , ,

when invo ked am i d dan gers by the initiated straight wa y

o ffered them help ; and whoso hath part in the myste ries ,
th e same will be m o re devout mo re upright and in eve ry , ,

respe ct b etter ”
Thus does J asio n figure as son of the
.
‘

highest god as himself raised to divine ho n ors as a wan

, ,

dering apo stle o f religion an d as the sour c e o f all goo d ,

“ ” “
fortune H i s name is e quivalent to savior
. healer , ,

being fro m the same root as i at ro s (heal er) and the verb ,

i ao m ai (to heal cure ) Com p are I ao the Greek form of

,
.
,

the H e b rew divin e n am e Y ahve or J ehova ; al s o I a cc ho s ,

and Jason (i e , I as o n ) . . .

T h us in mystic H ellenism we find the b asi c ideas o f

the l ater system o f divine incarnation and human d ei fi ca
tion o f redemption etc ; and there can b e n o d o ubt that
, ,
.

we m ust seek in the Gre c ian m ysteries fo r one of the ,

sour c e s o f Ch ri s ti an i s m .
 P A R T F O UR TH .

S on of Man . S on of Go d .

1 . H E LL E NIS M AND J U D A IS M .

I f one attends s olely to the fact that the founder o f

the Christian religion wa s a Jew and that not only he
,

executed his mission in Judea bu tt took Judai sm for the

,

basi s o f his tea c hing th e asse rtio n made in the p re c eding

,
.

section vi z : that the sourc es o f Chri stianis m are to b e

sought in the Grec ian mysteries m
.
,

ay app ear singul ar

,
.

B ut the apparent c ontradiction disa pp ears at once when

we reflect that long b efore Christ s day J udaism was
'
’

thoro u ghly y ea sted with Gre c ian ele m ents ; an d t h at after

h i s death the w o rk of p ro p agating hi s sy stem was done far
more largely b y Greeks and men o f Gre cian education
than by Jews We will not only prove that this was so
.
,

but also will show that th e Christianism o f Christian s i s

at roo t and in sub stance a totally di fferent thing f ro m th e

Christi anism o f Jes u s .

Sharper contrast can h ardly b e than t h at between the

Gre cian an d the Jewi sh c haracter O n one side closest.

union b etween Go d an d wo rld : on the other w idest ,

divulsion ; o n one side m o st untiring resear ch and th e

finest sense o f art fo rm : on the other only theolo gy and
-

religious po etry ; o n the one side a p riesthood that makes

no pretension and has little or no influence : o n the other
,

a nation ruled by p riests ; the Greeks mai ntaining an

active com m erc e with all the wo rld their ship s trave rs ing
,

91
 M Y S TE R I A

the seas from the Strait o f Gib raltar to th e remote st

,

angle o f th e Euxine : Judea sealed against al l access fro m

without against every ship that touched at Jopp a against
, ,

every caravan from the desert ; in Greece eager seizing

o f everything new and readiness to rej ect wh at i s an ti
q u a t e d : in Jude a holding fast to what i s old an d mis t rust
o f all ch ange .

These fundamentally di fferent elements were fated to

co m e in mutual c ontact Ever since th eir liberation fro m
.

B abylonian captivity b y the decre e o f Cyrus th e J ews , ,

both those who rem ain e d in th e region of Euph rates and

Tigri s and the small n umber o f them who returned to th e
native land h ad lived under the Persian s ceptre and
, ,

therefo re aft er th e conquest of Persi a by Alexan der were ,

exp osed to the p owerful influence o f Grecian culture .

The Jews we re s cattered still more in co nsequence o f the

’
wars b etween Ale xander s successors : soon they were to
b e found in every p o rt an d every i sl e o f the M e d i t e r
ranca h as far as Spain ; on the edge of th e Asian and
African desert s ; and afte r thi s disp ersio n (in Greek dias ,
~

p ora) they b ecame a shopke eping or mer c antile race

, .

B ut nowh ere o utside Palestine were they s o numerous as

i n Egyp t and its splendid new ca pital Alexa n dria seat
, ,

of Grecian art literature an d learning

,
Th ey enj oyed
.

large p ri vi l e ge s i n Egypt ; and they erected at Leo n

'

t o p o li s a templ e after the model o f the temp le at J eru

,

salem B ut thou gh the J ews o f the D ias pora thanks to

.
,

their l aws regarding food s and the Sabbath their po sses ,

sion o f the S criptures th eir un diminished reveren c e for

,

the Temple o f J erusalem an d the o b ligation lai d on

,

every Jew to p ilgri m thither once at least remained mo st,

firmly attached to the religion of their father s n eve rth e ,

~

less in m any pla c es they adopted the lan gua ge (usually

 SON OF MA N . S ON OF ‘

GO D 93

Greek) o f the lo calit y in which they lived so that a ,

“ ”
special Hellenist synagogue had to be erected at Jeru ~

sa l em for the sake o f visiting J ews who u nderstoo d only

G reek B ut nowhere did J ews adopt the Grecian cus
.

toms and lan gu age so unrese rvedly as at Alexandria an d ,

it was there that b etween the years B C 2 80 and 2 20 the . .

Pentateuch was translated into Greek This translatio n .

still i s styled the Septuagint ( Latin Septuaginta Greek , , ,

H e p t e k o n t a both m eaning s eventy) in acco rdan ce with

, ,

the old fable that in the wo rk were emp loyed seventy

two translators being six from each of the twelve
,

I sraelitish trib es ; and that whil e each o f th e seventy two -

’

“
translated the whole of the five books o f Mo ses the ,

several versions agreed verbatim l iterati m p un c tatim

~
, ,
.

I n lat er times the remainder o i the H e b rew B ible was

translated (about 1 2 5 B .

I n Alexandri a scholars who were not Jews found in

t h e Septuagint an introduction to Jewi sh theolo gy ; the
H ellenist Jews fro m their ac q uaintance wi th the literature
,

o f Greece b e came conversant with Grecian philosophy

, .

Greeks b egan to admir e the wisdo m of M oses J ews to , 0

stud y Plato and Ari stotle ; and the enlightened polytheism

o f the o n e co ncurr ed with the monotheism of th e others ,

in develop ing a new mysticism In this mysticism o f .

the Alexandrines it was that the ide a of D ivine Revelatio n

—
had its origin an idea b efore unknown but n o w suddenly ,

taken u p by these enthusiasts and ap p lied on the one, ,

side to the O l d Testament and o n the other side t o the

,

Greek p hilo so p hers Th e J ew Aristobulus founder o f

.
,

this scho ol o f thought by m e ans of an allegorical inter

,
~

p ret at i o n o f th e O ld Te stament tra ced to that source all

,

the wisdo m of the Greeks ; and Philo greatest of the ,

J ewish philoso p hers contemporary with J esu s though

, ,
 M Y S TE R I A
’

he kn ew nothing of h is life or do c trin e so spirituali z ed the ,

tradition o f his ra c e as to see in th e fo ur rivers of Eden th e

four c ardinal virtues in: the trees o f Paradi se the other
,

virtues in the p atri arch s and heroes of I srael only p er

,
t

s o n i fi c at i o n s o f variou s moral conceptions : all i n the

G recian m ann er Accordin g to Philo b efo re he c reated
.
,

the world Go d made a world o i ideas whi c h found i t s

, _ ,

centre of unity in hi s Wor d (logo s) ; th e corp oreal world

wa s made aft er th e model o f thi s ide al world The lo go s .

’
was God s first work the world his second : this p assed ,

afte rward into the go spel called o f John : In the b egin

“

”
ning was the word etc H e understood the histo ry of
, .

’
man s creation to mean that the first human creature was
immortal ideal p erfect but that b y the c reation o f wo m an
, , ,

h e wa s made sinful imp erfe c t Philo took the idea o f

, .

i mmortality fro m the Grecian philosophy rather than

fro m th e ancient Jewish d o ctrine s ; and with Pythagoras
h e regards th e so ul s union wi th the body as a punish
’

ment H e therefore taught that man should free himself

.

as mu c h as po ssible fro m this b urden some asso c iation ,

that i s should despise sense and l i ve entirely in the

,

thought o f God that s o he might o b tain rel ease O n e

, .

should think su ch views are inconsi stent with th e l aws

o f man s nature an d so i n truth they are ; b ut n everth e
’
,
~

l ess in Philo s day there e xisted a s o c iety th at ai m e d to

’

fas hi o n their life in acc o rdan c e with t h ese opinion s .

2 TH E E
. SS E N E S .

S uc h a so c iety was the ord er o r se c t of the Es senes ,

wh o t rac ed their o rigin b ack to high antiquity b ut whose ,

doctrines really were first p ut fo rth ab o u t the year 1 00

B C Th e Gre c izing J ew J o sephus m ake s the m a third
. .
“
 SON OF MA N . SON OF GO D 95

p arty ,
standing between the Ph arisees an d th e Sadducees .

B ut the Essenes as such had nothing to do with the

, ,

p oliti cal q uestions at i ssue between th e two p rin c ip al

p arties .The Essenes constituted a se c ret society .

The name Es senes E s s e n i i i s of unk no wn derivation

, , ,
.

B ut as they practi c ed the healing art they got the n ame o f

Th e nap e ut ae (healer s physician s ) ,
Josephus says tha t .

they lived in sp ecial settlements in the country p arts ;

Philo that they lived in the hamlets avoiding t h e cities ;
, ,

Pliny the elder p lants them on the western shore o f the

D ead S ea in s ettlements apart Their number i s stated
,
.

Th eir o ccup ations were husband ry an d han di

'

at
craft but they sternly refused to have anything to do wi th
,

whatever served t h e uses o f warfare as the manufacture ,

of arms ; they also declined all trades engaged in for i n

divi d u al profit as tra ffic s eafaring i n n k e e p i n g They
, , ,
.

had no p rivate p rop erty b ut community o f goods ; amon g

,

t h emselves they neither boug h t no r sold but ea c h to each ,

gave according to the need They repudiated not alone .

servitude b ut maste ry in general and whatever in any

, ,

wise annuls t h e na tura l equality o f mankind Their fo o d .

was such as necessity required and was prep ared stri ctly ,

according to the rules o f the order O n thi s point we .

know wit h certainty only that they held oil in ab o mina

tio n whether for anointing o r fo r use with vict uals B ut
, .

from the circ umstan ce that they conde m ne d b loody o ffer

ings and always practi c ed g re a t ab stemiousness in fo od ,

we must infer that they abstained totally fro m fl e s h meat

an d intoxicating liquors Sexual lo ve also they co ndemn e d
.
,

and a party a mong them (the leading party ) ab stained ,

from marri age and main tained its numeri cal strength by
a d o p tin g o utside children ; anot her faction however dee m , ,

ing thi s stri ct n ess to b e fatal to the sect retained the i n ,

96 M Y S TE R I A

s t i t ut i o n
o f marriage though under severe restri ction s
,
.

The members observed th e mo st scrupulou s cleanliness ,

ta king the b ath dai ly in cold water and we ari ng white ,

garments Their daily tasks w ere minutely prescri b ed

. .

B efore rise of sun they sp oke no wo rd only th e prayers , ,

i n which they paid honor to the sun as symbol of Go d .

Then they went about their work co ming then c e ba c k ,

to the c o m mon meal fi rst washing themselves an d p ut

,

ting on cl e an garment s No one tasted anything till t h e

.

p riest had m ade p rayer The meal con c luded they o i

.
,

fe red p rayer in uni son , laid o ff the ir cl ean garments an d ,

we n t b ack to work At th e l ast m eal of the day the same

.

custom s w e re ob served : at meat on ly one p erson sp oke at

a time . They did nothing without orders fro m th e
.

superiors prac ti c ed mo deration in all things studied to

, ,

control the p assions to b e faithful to all obligation s to

, ,

b e at p ea c e among them selves and with all the world an d ,

to b e help fu l to the poor There was a twelve —

. month
term of probation prior to admission into th e o rder D ur .

ing that time th e p ostulant confo rmed to the Es senian

rule o f life : he received a small h atchet (born e b y all
Essenes as an emble m of lab or) a l o incloth for the bath
, ,
“

an d a white gown I f the result of p rob ation was satis

.

fa c to ry a s e c o nd term o f p rob ation (two years) follo we d ;

,

i f found wo rthy th e p ostulant wa s admitted to memb er

,

ship The rite of admission consisted o f a meal i n co m

.

mon preceded by the pronouncing of th e vow by the

,

n ew b rother Th e tenor o f the vo w was that h e obli

.

gated him self to b e ever faith ful to th e rules o f the order

and to lead a virtuou s life ; to ob se rve s e c re c y regarding
th e doings o f the order and th e name s of memb ers : this
with refere n ce to the worl d without ; b ut wi th regard to
the so ci ety itsel f to keep n othing se c ret fro m the b r ethren
, .
 S ON OF MA N . SON OF GOD 97

Afte r ad m ission the Essene s were classed i n four degrees .

—
,

Unworthy members were expelled a terrib le p unish

ment indeed for the outcasts were no t released fro m thei r
, ,

vo w and yet c ould not in th e world co m ply wit h it ; an d

,

s o were doomed to p e rish .

Their religious views have b ee n already stated in ‘

p ar t
. With Judaism their only b on d o f union was in
their p ractice o f sending to the templ e at J eru s alem o ffer
ings ; but by reason of their condemnation o f blood y sacri
fi c e s they were self ex c luded fro m the temple No r was
-
. .

their b elief in immortality o f Jewi sh o ri gin for they h eld ,

that soul forme d of most tenuous aether i s attra cted and

, ,

appro p riated by a body within which it lives as a pris ,

oner ; but that after liberation through death it soars to

heave n where it lives for evermore in a blest land with
, ,

o ut rain o r snow o r heat while the wicked are tort u red

, , ,

in a remote region of col d and darkness This recalls

‘
.

the views of the Pythagoreans Less h onorable to t h e .

Es senes are t h e frauds practiced by many o f them i n p re

'

tendi n g to read the future to interp ret dreams to c onj ure , ,

disease away etc O f later Ch risti an notions we are

,
.

reminded by th e Essenian nomen c lature of the angels ,

and the obligation im p osed on new members to keep the

na m es secret The Es senian order survived till the early
.

d ays o f Christianism : it then died out th e Christian ,

a s c eti c is m having made it superfluous .

3 . C H R ISTI A N IS M .

Es senis m is one o f tho se pheno m en a whi c h m ake

b ut a small figure in general histo ry b ut which have ,

mighty results and which recon c ile c on t rarieti e s in hum an

,

nature For in Essen is m we h ave th e m i d d l e term b e

.
 M Y S TE R I A

t ween the G recian mys teries and Christianis m as al s o ,

be t ween the Greci a n philosop hy an d Judaism As ap .

pears from what h as gone b efore the Essenian so c iet y ,

was a Judaic imitation o f the Pythagore an league an d th at ,

league again represen ted in philo sophy wh at the G re

, ,

c i an mysteries represented in religion na m ely humiliatio n , ,

of m an by sh owing hi m that there exi st higher power s

that far t ranscen d hu m anity ; an d then th e elevation of
m an b y in c ul c ation of the thoug ht o f im mo rtality and o f
future union with the Creator With this mysti c ism was .

as sociated in Greece the lofty mo rality o f a Socrates a

, , ,

Plato an Ari stotl e ; an d in J ud ea the b elief i n O ne God

,
.

The com b ination of al l these elements coul d h ave b ut

one result to wit to c all forth that great power whi c h
t ran sfo rm ed the world—Chri sti anism
, ,

Thi s now power w a s b o u n d to aris e to re co n ,

cile contraries that c o nfronted ea c h other in that time ,

after the Ro m a n Empire had brought under its universal

sway the lands th at h ad cradled all the diverse religions
and philo sophies Tho se religious an d philosophi c al sys
;

tems were n o longer as b e fore sep arated : b ri sk inter

, ,
-
t

c o mm uni c atio n favored b y the c om m er c e and the wars

o f th e vast emp ire b rought the m daily into contac t The

,
.

result was two fold : first a certain indi ffer en c e for religious
,

opinion s the diversity o f which gave m e n o c c asion to

,

j udge that in sup ersensual things no direct knowledge i s

p ossi b le ; a n d th e mis c hief o f it al l was that nothing was
don e for the edu c ation or enlightenment of the people ,

and in fa c t s c ience exist e d only for th e higher orders

, , ,

an d t h e p eople found no subst itute for their a n c ient

l

b elief B ut se c ondly th e result al so was that p eople

.
,

began to b e con sciou s o f the feeling implanted by the ,

Gre c ian philosop hers and pa rticularly by the Stoi c s th a t

,
.
,
 SON OF MA N . SON OF GO D 99

in spit e of national and religious di fferen c es all men are ,

brothers and that mankind is one great whole

,
H ow .

ever beautiful and no b le this idea it had to lie dormant ,

so long as n o bond o f sp iritual kinship s ave that o f: po

l i ti cal uni ty held together the people s who within t h e
empire j ointly o b eyed one law an d o ne will Thi s .

missing b ond o f sp iritual union could not b e o th er than

a religious one ; for so long as th e scien c es were so
u ndevelop ed no other spiritual guidan ce b ut that G od ward

co u ld lead all hearts however ed ucated of whatever na

, ,

tion t o the one end toward which m en were b eing fo r c ed

,

by the c onsciousness that above all they w ere m e n

, ,
.

And if it b e asked what sort o f a religion that must b e

which shall s atisfy all nation s at on c e first o f all it ,

is very clear that it c oul d b e no polytheisti c reli gi on .

That form of religio n h ad outlived its usefulnes s Th e

various nati o nal religions—E gyptian Chaldaean Syrian
.

, , ,

—
Gre cian Rom an had c omp letely ex hausted themselve s
,

in the produ ction of deities : p olytheism coul d give forth ‘

no more new s h oo ts as was shown b y th e fa c t that the

,

Romans al l the forces of n atu re having been worked up

, ,

had gone and made goddesses of th e virtues e g Pudi , . .

,

c i t i a Concordia Pax Vi ctoria

, ,
and th e rest had no re
, , ,

course b ut to admit to their Pantheon all the gods o f the

con quered nations and p aid now to I sis Cy b ele M ithras
, , , ,

and B aal the same worship as befo re they had paid to

J upiter and Juno I nto s uch disrepute had p olyth eism
.

fallen i n the estimation of all edu c ated men who if they ,

were p erson s o f serious chara c ter despised su c h gods ; but

i f they were frivolous ridiculed worship and sacrifice and
,

oracle s and priests The p riests themselves smiled when

.

they m et a nd by their irregular lives an d their super

,

s ti t i o u s practi ce s forfeited all respe c t At last every hon

.
 M Y S TE R I A

est m an m ust have b een transported with indignation

when th e e mp erors in the p ar oxysms o f their desp otic
frenzy had the m selves worshiped as gods and a race of
hounds in human form b urned the in c en se o f adulation
b efore th em .

H ence th e new religion fo r which m ankind sought

, ,

to give true exp ression to the sentiment o f a co m m on

hu manity c oul d not b e any o f the h eath en systems .

Rather by insisting on the oneness o f Godh ead it h ad to

, ,

make an end o f p olyth eism of godm aking and o f O ly m

, ,

pian wantoning and at the s am e ti m e o f s c orn and

, ,

derisio n o f the gods .

Thus then wh at was wanted was a go d who should

, ,

have van q u i shed all o t her gods and he a god o f d efinit e

outline and fixed c h arac ter —
,

n o n e b ulous la c kadaisical , ,

inert deity su ch as the G re c i an philosophers p r ea c hed : no

“ ”
ab stract world soul signifying nothing to th e u n e d u
-
,
~

c at e d p eopl e ; b ut a god like unto man himself and who m ,

“ ”
man should have made after h i s own likeness ; one with
human feelings sentiments and passions wi th human
, , ,

wrath and human lovingness And this go d must stand .

for a doctrin e of p ersonal immortal ity to th e en d the

pre c ious Ego o f every man might h ave infal lible an d
t rustwo rthy assuran c e that hi s title to a M ansi o n i n th e
Skie s will stand un c hallengeable for ever a n d fo r ever .

An d again thi s go d must b e no ab st ra c t entity alleged

, ,

to have existed so m ewh ere so m ewhen b ut a p ers onality

, ,

asso ciated with definite lo c alities and p ossessin g very , ,

d e fi nite traits And s o the p rob le m was to fi nd this o n e

,

g o d
,
thi s doct rine o f i mm ortality t o fin d a p erso n
, ality that
would b e the middle term b etwee n the t wo .

No where was a monotheism to b e found save in Juda

i s m an d there it was plain an d op en to view
, We have al .
 SON OF MA N . SO N OF G OD 101

ready s e en how the Jews were s c attered all over th e world .

Their synagogues were everywhere an d (noteworthy ,

fact) they had pro sel y te s in every large city esp ecially in ,

Rome . I n this we se e the first step s in t h e disse m ination

of monotheism : b ut it could not b e p ropagated on the
large s c ale b y J ews Few were th e persons who took a
.

liking t o the strictne ss o f the Mo s ai c religion and the ,

God of the Jews was too spi ritual a b eing to b e grasped ;

b esides very many turne d away fro m Judaism b e c ause o f
,

the i n d efi n i te n es s o f the Jewish notion s o f im m o rtality or ,

the strange rites an d the p e c uliar usa ge s o f the J ewish

people .

Fro m Judaism then the id e a o f m ono thei s m was the

, ,

only feature that could b e borrowed : what was demanded

else was the m y s t i e ele m ent ; th at is to say men ,

wanted a system of religious co nc e ptio ns that would t e

fle c t ba c k upon them the i r own sentiments a s the i h
fallible truth B ut the material b est fitted for th at end
.

was to b e found in the mysteries an d i n the Pythagorea n

and Essenian do ctri nes Th e divers e ideas o f the s everal
.

se c ret leagues with regard to the sep aration o f the divine

fro m th e huma n and their reconcili ation must fi nd their ,

unity in the Jewish Go d a thing not di fficult to ae c om

-

p l i s h in the times i m mediately p re ceding th e advent o f

Christ bec ause o f the intermingling o f Greci an an d J ew
,

ish ideas : an d this unity ha d to b e estab lished b y so me

personage of imp osing figure on the stage o f history who ,

sho u ld impress hi s seal upon it and surround it wi th th e

p restige of deity .

No w at that ti m e there was b oth a m o ng the h eathe n

,

an d t h e J ews an exp ectation o f so m e su c h divin e inter

ve n ti o n as this T h us in the early years o f the Roman

.
,

Empire the belief was wi desp read th at a n ew kingdo m was

to b e founded in the East and that a n ew G o lden A ge
.

was a b out to b egi n M o re d efi n i te was th e exp e c tatio n

.
‘

entert ained b y the J ews of a M essiah to c ome who woul d ,

restor e th e kingdo m o f I srael and t h e worship of J ehova

,
.

This lon ging o f the J ews coincided with the desire o f

heathendom for a new reli gion to take the pl ac e o f a
dying an d degenerate polytheism .

4 . J E SUS .

At this j un c ture appeared Jesus H e lived an d die d .

in o b s c uri ty O f his c areer not one word o f m ention is

.

found in contempo rary Greek and Roman writers eager ,

l y a s they investigated eve rything B ut this ob s c uri ty

.

wrought no detri m ent for it left tho se who were lon gi ng

,

for a n ew reli gi o n free to m ake o f him whatever they

thought b est for their c aus e ; that i s to say they mad e o f ,

him a p ersonality very different fro m what he really was .

O ut o f a c irc u m cised son o f a J ewi s h c arp enter who ro s e , ,

indeed above th e b igotry o f his p eople an d who su ffered

, ,

death for his revolt against the rule o f p riests and s c ri b es ,

was develop ed the longed for M essi ah -

H e was no .

l o nger m e rely hu m an but th e Son of God born o f a vir

, ,

gin ; a thau m aturge ; hi s death was form ally and i mten

t i o n al l y a sa c ri fi c e for th e re demp tion o f man kind ; after
' “ ”

death he rose again an d then as cended into heaven : in

,

a word J esu s th e man ha d become a go d And t hu s o n

,
.

the Jewi sh b ran ch were grafted quite unj ewi sh Gra c co ,

~

m ysti cal shoots till th e bra n c h was no longer rec o gn i z

ab l e
.

We thus have in the life o f th e founder o f th e Ch ri s

tian Chur c h as h an ded down to u s two elements t ruth
, , ,

and fi c tion . Th e el e men t of truth is whatever i s con

/
si ste n t wi th h i s to rical researc h and p sycholo gi cal fac t and
 SON O F MAN . SON OF GOD 1 03

nature s laws ; and the eleme nt o f fiction co m pri ses what

’

ever is in confli c t with these Jesus himself n ever pre

.

tended to b e more than a? m an Virtue was the burden .

o f h i s teaching an d he never p ro pounded a c reed To

the many nam e s o f God h e added that of Fathe r —fath er
.
,
“ ”

o f all mankind H e was n o dogm atist b ut a m oral re

.
,

former and as su c h o cc up ied com m on ground wi th the

,
‘

Essene s and with John the B aptist though h e di ffered ,

from them and p articularly from the Essen e s with re

, ,

gard to methods and m easures : the Essenes woul d

save men s so uls by withdrawin g the m fro m human s o
’

c i e ty ; J esus sought to save m en living in t h e w o rl d—t o

save hu m an soc iety itself .

J esus taught the people in parab les e nfor c ing h i s ,

doctrine o f vi rtuous living by the use o f si m iles th at n o

hearer could fail to unders tan d Those wh o afterward es .

sayed to write the histo ry o f his life and work in like ,

manner made a free use o f fi gurative language an d the ,

personal ity o f J esus was glorified and his mission m ag

“ ”
,

n i fi e d till the world saw in him indeed the desired o f , ,

”
all the nati o ns the Messiah longed fo r by I srael th e
, ,

reconciler of the divine an d the hu m an toward who m all ,

the mysterie s had pointed .

The m iracles of Jesus namely a c ts an d o oc urren c e s

, ,

that co ntradict the laws o f nature are not a c tual events ; ,

for as they are re c o rded i n the New Testament they show

a needless a b ro gation of natural law—n ee dles s b e c ause ,

the truths which J esu s p reach ed c o uld not b e made more

true by mira c les An d thus as the rationalist s o f the
.
,

1 8 th century exp lain e d them as a c tual o ccurr en c e s i n

d eed b ut yet as i n a cco rdan c e with th e natural l aw s o

, ,

now they are held to b e quite needles s j ugglerie s a l to

gether unwo rt h y o f J e s us H en c e the rational i n terp re
.
 M Y S TE R I A

t ati o n of the m irac les is that they rep resent the e ffo rt o f
,

the ev an gelists to p ortray the life and p erson of th e Mas

te r in s uch c olors as their notions o f hi s sup eremin ent
d ignity r e q uired W e divide thes e miracles into three
classes—the m ira c les o f th e b irth th e li fe and th e death
.

, ,

of J esu s .

Th e b irth o f J es u s as n arrated i n t h e go spel sto ry i s

, , ,

itself a mi racle The le gi timate son o f Jo sep h the car !

—
.
,

p e n t e r o f Na z areth and o f M ary,

for su c h he was a c ,

co rdin g to th e genealogy found in M atthew and Luke

had to b e transformed into the Son o f God nay made , ,

Go d himself if his do c trin e was to app ear a s of divine

,

ori gi n O f typ es o f such transfo rm ation there was no

.

lack in h eathendom The first Ch ristians it i s true kne w

.
, ,

nothing of the sun go d B uddha b o rn agai n o f a wo man

-
, ,

b ut th ey were acquainted with Greci an an d Roman myth :

ology . Apoll o himself a go d walke d on ea rth as a

, ,

sh epherd H erakles son o f Zeus and Ro mulus son of

.
, , ,
‘

M ars and o f a virgin were founders of states and citi e s

, ,

and pro genitors o f nation s ; then why should not the

foun der o f a reli gi on and of a chur c h b e also son o f Go d
and of a virgin ? Nay why might not God himself wal k
,

on earth in h u m an form ? That such was th e actual

origi n of the sto ry o f th e D ivine B irth i s not do u b tful : all
—
th e rest i s m ere em b ellishment as when the an gel ah
n o u n c e s to th e virgin th e comin g birth of the Son o f G od ;

when another an gel a c companied by th e he avenly ho s ts

,

tells th e shepherd s o f h i s actual b irth ; when a star c o m

”
d u cts th e wi se men o f th e Ea st to th e wo ndrous b ab e
“
,

and they with th e shepherds and Simeon and Ann a pay

, ,

him h o m age ; an d whe n H erod purp osing to take the ,

life o f th e p redestined M essiah in o rder to co m pa s s that ,

e n d o rde rs th e slaughter o f th e inno c ent s .

 SON O F MAN . SON O F GO D
'
1 05

The miracles o f the life o f Jesus are either abroga

tions of natural laws o r cures of disea ses or resus c ita
, ,

tions fro m the dead or apparitions Al l these di fferent

,
.

kinds of mira c les are fictions with a p urp ose W e have .

already seen how in the Grecian mysteries bread and wi ne

were employed as conse c rated via n ds fo r th e go ds and ,

how at Eleusis divine honors were p ai d to D emet er an d

Dionysos as givers o f bread and wine Jesus to o had .
, ,

to be made lord and gi v e r o f these two sacred vi ands :

hen ce the ch ange o f water into wine and th e multi p li ,
f

cation o f the l o aves ; and later i n th e last supper bread

'

, ,

and wine were made the obj ect o f th e Chri sti an M ys t e r

i es
. Th e wal king on the waters o f the lake of G en
n e s areth the stilling of th e winds the blasting of th e
, ,

fi g tree the findin g of the penny in the fish s mouth and

,
’

,
’
Peter s draught o f fishes are pictures of the imagination
’
designed to show the power of the Son o f God over the
waters the ai r the world of pl an ts and of animals So
, ,
.
,

too his p ower over b odily diseases i s m ade s o methin g

,

real for the c o mmo n understan ding by such stories as

the healing o f paralytics lepers t h e blind th e deaf and
, , ,

dumb ; over mental diseases by the freeing o f the p os

sessed over death itself by the raising o f th e dead: Among
,

the ap parition s we reckon those o f the Holy Spirit as a

dove at the b aptism o f Jesus of Satan at Jesus t e m p ta ,
-
’

tion and o f M oses and El i as at th e tran s fi gu rati o n : this

,
“ ”
i s all allego ry The Holy Spirit i s an idea distinct
.

fro m Go d only in thought ; the dove I S the sy mbo l of

p urity and gentlen ess Th e Devil is a p ersonifi c ation of
.

evil and the failure o f: his attempt was the triumph o f

,

the goo d As for the tran s fi gurati o n that typ ifies the
.
,

vast su p eriority of the new law over the old : the old m ust
d o hom age to the new
-
.
 M Y S TE R I A

Th e m ira c le s o f J esus death vi z the darkening o f

’
, .
,

the sun the ren ding o f the veil of t h e H oly o f H olies

,

i n the Te m pl e the resurre c tion o f t h e dead were o c cur

, ,

renee s quite i n o m i s s i b l e at th e deat h o f a god ; th ey b e

token the mo u rning o f n ature and o f religion B ut th e .

m i racles that followed his death the resurre c tion and the
,

ascension together with th e apparition s of the Cruc i fi e d

,

in the m ean ti me were imagined p ur ely an d plainly to

,
:

c on fi r m the b elief in an everlasting redeemer and in the

pe rso nal i m mo rtality of e ac h indi vi dual o n e of th e fai th
ful.

O f far greater i mp o rtan c e t h an th e m i racles o f Jesus

are his tea c hings an d i n p articul ar his fine di s co urs e o n
,

the m ountain also hi s b eaut i ful p arables B ut hi s ut

, .

t e ran c e s c ont in nothin g that i s e ssentially new th e same

a ,

thoughts h avin g been o ften exp resse d by religious teach

ers an d sage s o f other times an d in other lands ; and yet
they p oss ess a char m all their own b y reas on o f their ,

unas suming si mplici ty It was not th e doctrine o f the

.

unity o f God an d o f love for the neigh b or that wrought

the p ropagat io n o f his te achings—the J ews possesse d
that do ctrine already ; nor was it hi s call to a higher life
than that o f sense th e Gre c ian philosophers preceded
-

hi m in that resp e c t ; nor his alleged divinity n o r th e mir

a c le s as c ri b e d to him—hi s contemp ora rie s i n eve ry land
,

had had exp eri ence o f miracles in every sh ap e : it was the

forc efulness th e grandeur the simplicity o f his discourse
, , ,

sp eaking to th e h eart o f man an d maste ring it and calm ,

ing its unrest H ere he was s el f b as e d an d individual

.
~
,

sup re m e an d i rresistible H is teachin g an d in p articular

.
,

the serm o n o n th e m ount is the mo st emphatic blister

, ,

ing condemnation o f those who for the l ast nineteen ,

hundred years h ave called themselves not only Chri s

,
 SON O F MAN . S ON OF GO D 1 07

tians b ut th e only Christians ; who n eve rtheless in op en

, , ,

c ontempt of their suppo sed Mas ter no t only take oaths , ,

an d require an eye for an eye cheri sh mortal hate for ,

their ene m i es trumpet their alm sgiving ab ro ad , o ffer

,

their prayers aloud at the street crossings fast o stenta ,

t i o u s l y lay up for themselves treasures o n earth which

, ,

are eaten b y the moth and the rust ; serve two m asters o r
m ore see the mote though blin d to the b ea m throw th e
, , ,

hol y thi n g to t h e dogs when on e asks the m fo r a loaf

,

give him a stone do not unto others as they would that

,

oth ers should do unto the m : who n o t only do all this ,

b ut who even ena c t laws which oblige men to do all

this. H e who m they hypo c ritically call M aster b ut ,

who m they never have understood were h e to appe ar ,

would anathematize the m in the n o b l e

/

am o n g th e m ,

words I know you not D ep art fro m m e ye doers of

, .
,

ev il ! Such language was unhe ard b e fo re hi s day ; there

fore wondered the p eo p le for he sp ake with power an d , ,

not like t h e scribes and pharisees .

5 . TH E E A R L Y C H R ISTI A N S

What then i s the di fference b etween the Christian

, ,
~

i s m o f Jesus an d the Chri stianism o f Christians ? Th e

former as seen in the discourses o f the N ew Te stament
, ,

and ab ove all in the ever beautiful sermo n on the m ount ,

i s a simple and u np retending yet wo rld transfo rm ing ,

-

do ctrin e o f God Virtue an d Love o f Man : a monotheis m

, ,

borrowed fro m the Jews for th e b ehoo f o f all m en b ut ,

purified of ceremonialism sabbatism sa c rifi c es high , , ,

p riesthood : in short the Christian ism o f Jesus meant th e

,

coming Kingdo m o f God in which th e vi rtuous man

“ ”
,

would enj oy happines s and p e ac e B ut th e Ch ristianis m .

 M Y S TE R I A

o f Christians i s a M vs ti c i s m in grafted on this mon othe is m ,

comp rising th e dogmas o f th e I n carnation Atone m ent , ,

Redemption Re su rrection and Se c ond Co ming an d the

, , ,

M iracle s invente d to b uttress these dogmas Th e Chri s .

t i an i s m o f Jesus fell when h e and his fi rst dis c iples died

they had no hair splitting theolo gy only a devout heart
-
,

that system was too simple too unado rned t o o little flat , ,

tering to sense a n d to man s vainglo ry to c ut an y fi gure ’

in th e wo rld B ut the Christi an ism o f Christians which

.
,

had for its mother th e Greci an mysteries b o rrowed from ,

J esus its father (without who s e personality and nam e it

,

never co ul d h ave lived at all) what little was known con ,

cerning him b ut s wad d e d it in a thick wrapp age o f mystic

,

dogmatism Let us see how thi s dogmati c Ch ristiani sm

.
,

suc c eeded i n erectin g itself up on the simple ethi c religious -

syste m o f Jesus an d in m aking itself a p ower in the world

,

by evolving n ew mysteries .

Were it not fo r th e grafting on it o f th e Graeco m ys ti -

c al elements Ch risti anism wo uld n ever hav e grown t o

,

b e even a church to s ay n othin g o f its p ro sp e ct s o f b e

,
‘

comin g a power in the world Its adherents in the b e .

ginning were goo d zealous b eli eving folk b ut amon g

, , , ,

t he m were no men of edu cation o r o f commanding ability .

The first congregation i n J eru salem therefore unabl e t o , ,

c omprehend the lofty views of the Cruci fi e d took thei r ,

stan d on a n arrow ground not essentially di fferent fro m

that o f J ud ai sm ; for example they held that no one was ,

worthy to b e b aptized wh o would not first undergo c i r !

c u m ci s i o n ,
thus b ecomin g by adoption a J ew Th e .

Ap ostle James a devout as c eti c was th e he ad o f thi s

, ,

school the adh eren ts of which were ca lled Jewi sh Chris

,

tians The fi rst to dem and rep udiation o f Judaism was

.

Step hen , a m an of G re c ian edu c ation ; b ut h e p aid t h e

 SON OF MAN . S O N OF GOD 1 09

p en al ty m b itious plans by a marty r s death

f h is The ’
‘

o a .

c on gre gatio n at Antio c h adopte d Stephen s view ac cord ’

,
” “ “
ing to which the Gen tile Ch ristian s an d the Je wish
”
C hri sti an s st o o d on an e quality The intell e c tual le ader .

o f the Gentile Chri stian school was Paul -

a m an who , ,

in talents and in force o f cha racter stood high a b ove all ,

the ori g inal apostles of the Nazarene Throught Paul s

’
.

exerti o ns Chri s t ian is m overstepp ed the n arrow limits o f

Palesti ne and Syri a Well s c hooled b oth in Gre cian
.
,

p hilosophy an d Jewi sh th eology he was at th e first a ,

fanati ca l p ers e c utor of the Chri stians but had a sudden ,

co nversion while j ourneyin g to D am as c us on a p ers ec ut ~

ing raid and thencefo rth was a zealous ap ostle of the new
,
'

religion B eing a victi m o f epilep sy Paul had frequent

.
,
.

fits and visions and h e s p o ke o f the m often thus implant

, ,
~

ing in t h e minds o f the Chri stians a firm b elief in such o c

c u rre n c es O f c ourse the way was thus made read y for
.
,

t h e intro du c tion o f the legends of a resurrec tion an as ,

c é n s i o n et c
,
Furthermo re a foundation was in this way
.
,

l aid fo r a grea t th eologi c al sup erstructu re whi c h very ,

s oon was seen to rise As th e foundation so was th e

superstructure—mystical
.
,

O ver a gain st th e first man .

,

Adam representing the sensuous life sin servitude and

, , , ,

d eath Paul set up the Go d man Chri st representing the

,
-
,

sp ir i t grac e freedom and life ; man wa s to c ru c ify th e

, , ,
“ ”
old Adam an d to be bo rn anew i n Christ eve n to b e
, ,
~

co m e one with him By this union he said th e law o f .

.

, , .

M o ses is done away bei ng superseded b y faith where

. ,
“ ”
,

b y alone the sinner is j ustified an d made wo rthy o f God s

' ’

grac e . Fo r t rue faith he added carries with it go o d , ,

works and the tru e b eliever cannot b e otherwi se than

,

righteou s .

Paul thus stood in a certain sense on the Protestant

, ,
 M Y S TE R I A .

ground as c ontradistinguished fro m th e J ud aeo Ch ri sti an -

(which i s p artly al s o the Catholi c ) ground of Peter Jame s , ,

an d John who upheld the Mo sai c law an d re c eive d into

, ,

the Chur c h only c ircum c i se d c onve rts Peter wavered,

‘
.

being a J ew among J ews but o ften forgetting th e M o s ai c

,

law in th e c ompany o f Gentile Ch ristians ; b ut Paul

would never con s ent that Gentil e converts shoul d b e
o b liged to c onfo rm to th e J ewi s h rites : hen c e Pau l was
’

the real founder of the Ch ri stian Churc h which had his , ,

opp o nents b een victo ri o us would have remain ed a J ew

,

ish se ct The Church was split into two p arti es To th e

. .

J ewish Christian party adh ered the nu m erous c onvert s

-

fro m Essenism with who m the ti e of bl o o d was stronger

,

than the spiritual bond whi c h united them with the sc h ool
o f Pythagoras This party di d not regard J esu s as G od
.
,

b ut cl asse d hi m with th e angels .

B etwee n the two p arties J u d aeo C hristian an d G entile

’
-
,
.

C hri sti an arose a third party that o f the Alexandrine

, ,

Chri sti an J ews Their l ead er was Ap ollos (p roperly

.

Apo llonius) o f wh o m it is re l ated in the A cts of the

,

Ap ostl es that he re c o gnize d only the bapti s m o f J ohn

, ,

an d not that o f J esu s but that he was c onverted to b elief

,
’
in the l attter b y certain o f Paul s disciples at Ephesu s
. .

H e it was that imp orted int o Christi anis m the Al exain '

d ri ne d o ctri ne o f th e Lo go s o r Wo rd .

6 . TH E N E W T E S TA M E NT .

W ith su ch di st ribution! o f p artie s th e N ew Test a

a ,
.

m ent literature arose It may now b e a ffi rm ed with o ut

.

h esitation that n o t o ne p iece o f thi s lite ratu re was c o m

p osed by any o f the di sciples o f Jesus who were al l un ,

edu c ate d m en Th e early C hri sti an s h ad at firs t no

.
 SON OF MA N . S ON OF GOD 111

Sacred Scri p ture other tha n the O ld Testament ; with re

gard to the doctrine o f J esus they dep end e d on oral i n
st ruction Even the la nguage in which the New Testa
.

ment was written the H ellenisti c (o r literary dialect o f the

,

Alexandrines) i s proo f that it was the w o rk of men o f

Greek education As far as can b e determined now the
.

earliest New Testament writer was Paul Th e Pauline .

epistles that are his i nd isp utably are those to the ,

Romans th e Co rinthian s and the Gal atian s ; the most

, ,

d u bious amo ng them are the epis tles to Timothy Titus , ,

and Philemon Th ere are e p istles of so m e o f the o ther

.

a p ostles as James Peter J ohn and Jud e an d these o f

, , , , , ,

co u rse according to the p arty stand of their writers rep

, ,
,

resent views oppo sed to those o f Paul Th ey are of later .

date than Paul s ep istles and are hardly to b e c redited to

’

the ap ostles who se name s are prefixed to them To the ,

Alexandrine school is to be referred the ep istl e to the

H ebrews distinguished fro m th e Pauli n e writings by the
,

fact that it holds th e O ld and N ew Testaments to b e not ,

opp osites but compl ements o f e ach other

, .

Apart from the Ep istles the Revelation of J ohn (Ap o

ca l yp s e) is the oldest b ook o f the N ew Testament Wri t .

ten in the spirit o f an O l d Testament prop h et it ex ,

p resses the indignation o f a Jew against the Roman s dur ~

ing th e siege and sho rtly before the destru ction of J e ru s a

le m A D 70 ; it c ontains the p redi ction that not J e ru s a
, . .

lem b ut the whore of B abylon ( Rome) to gether with the

, ,

entire heathen world will p erish amid fire b lo od an d

, , ,

ruin ; b ut that there will b e let down from H e aven a n ew

and glorious J eru sale m abode of the blest s eat of the
, ,

“
b ri d e o f the lam b ”
Afte r th e destru ction o f J eru sal e m
.

the Ap ocal yp se was writte nanew by an unkn own hand in ,

the Chri stian sense As every one knows the prophecies

.
,
1 12 M Y S TE R I A

o f th e bo o k did not c ome t rue ; but its fantasti c morbid ,

imaginings have ever sin c e been i nterp reted b y enthusiasts

as infal lible forewarnings o f thing s to com e ; and m any a
searc her o f its p ages has l ost wh at modi c u m of s ense
they ever had in w o rking out its m eaning .

The other histo ri ca l writings o f the N ew Testament

c onsist o f fo ur Go sp els and the Acts of the Ap ostles It .

is now evident that when i n th e co urs e of ti m e the o ral ,

tradition s were c om m itted to writi ng Jesus discourses

“

’
, ,

whi c h with an ad m ira b le simplicity an d admirab le c lear

,
’

ne ss e xp ressed a good deal in a few wo rds must h ave

, ,

b een handed do wn in; far more authenti c fo rm than the

history o f his deeds ; and th at among his dis c ourses those ,

which c o ntained truths of general appli cation were m ore

faithfully rem e mb ered th an tho se which ex pressed per
sonal views—as for example th o se in whi ch h e c laims to
, ,

b e M e ssiah The oldest writte n accounts o f his life and

.

wo rk are lo st to u s forever ; they were wi th out doubt writ .

, ,

ten i n the language whic h was used by Jesus an d his

dis c iples Aram ai c a sister tongue o f H e b rew
, ,
O f the .

existing G o s pels written in Greek the first three cal led

, , ,

“
synopti c s ( i e agreeing) are b ased on one older o ri gi
”
. .
, ,
é

nal go s p el o r acco unt ; th e thi rd Gospel Joh n s s tands by

’ ’

, ,

Th e new criti c is m regards M ark s G osp el as the

’
itself .

mo st an c ient : it contain s al mo st exclusively n arratives of

facts writt en do wn from mem o ry with the a ccru i ng em
, ,

b e l l i s h men t s and modifications ; b ut M ark gives little of

the discourses of J esus ; h e says nothing knows nothing ,

o f any supernatural b irth o f Jesus and regard s him s imply ,

a s m an M .
ark s Go sp el i s the b asis
’
o f the other t wo

synopti c s whi c h draw on hi m for narrative while they

, ,

both add the d iscourses Th e Gosp el ac c o rdin g to Mat .

thew gi ves th e dis c ourses a J u d aeo Ch ri sti an tinge ; that -

 S ON OF MA N . SON OF GO D 1 13

a cc ording to Luke (who also wrote th e Acts) a Gentile

Chri stian coloring : b u t they bo th waver b etween the
o pinions that Jesu s is God and man and that he i s only ,

man . B ut the Go sp el literature was lifted o ut o f this

state o f hesitation by the fourth Go sp el This G ospel .

b ears the name o f the J u d ae o Christian ap o stl e J oh n but -

,

erroneously for it h ad its o ri gin in the Alex andri ne

,

school and was written prob ab ly A D 1 60 to 1 70 The

, . . .

Alexandri nes as we have seen were wont to resolve al l

, ,

a c counts o f facts whether real o r fictitious into m ental

, ,

c oncepts and therefore lived in a cl o ud wo rl d o f i deas

, , ,
.

Whereas the first apo stles regarded the Nazarene m e rel v

,

as man an d while fo r Paul and the evangelists Matth ew

,

an d Luk e he was a go d fman the J o an n i n e Go spel make s ,

hi m God and represents his existen c e on earth in p al

,

p a b l e human f o rm as a mere passing incident

,
H ence .

it pro c l ai ms him the Word (lo gos) whi ch Philo J u dae u s

“ ”
,
“ ”
discovered ; which Logo s not only was in th e b eginnin g
with Go d but was God himself For the autho r o f the
,
.

fo u rth Go spel the n arrative o f o cc urre n ce s in t h e life of

J esus is a secondary matter se rving only as a setting ,

for his o wn p e c uliar do ctrines Thus th e do c trin e o f the .

godhead of Jesus is t h e result of Grecian influen c e .

B eside s these four generally received Gosp els several

others in on e pla c e or another at one t i m e or anot h er
, , ,

have p assed for revealed writings They are written .

,

some in Aramaic so m e i n G reek some in Latin and

,
,
, , ,

since the ir u n cano ni c al character was de c ided have b een ,

clas s ed as Ap o crypha Their contents barring a few .

, ,
'

pas s ages that show some elevation of thought are mostly ,

in the j ej une an d tasteless vein o f thos e trivial ac c ounts o f

m iracles which we find in the c anonic al Gospels such as ,

the ch anging o f water into wine the cursing o f t h e fi g ,

‘
 M Y S TE R I A

’
tree Peter s d raugh t o f fishes etc ; or th ey are of a still
, ,
.

more p altry sort and tel l o f a numb er o f m i rac les wrought

,

by Jes us in his childhood There are also apo cryphal .

Acts o f Apostles apo c ryphal Ap ocalyp ses and apo cryphal

, ,

Epistles all o f the m what we should no w call p amphl ets

,
“ ”

c o mp osed in the interest o f p arties in the ch urch .

B ut the W ord o f th e J o an n i n e Go sp el be c a m e th e
“ ”

p assword for th e reunion o f al l p art i es Th e influen c es .

that had b rought tho usan ds o f Gen tiles into the Chur c h
were all too strong for t h e resistan ce o f th e J u d aeo Chri s -

tian pa rty to overc o me The little J u d aeo Chri stian fold .

-

h ad no choi c e th erefore but either to go b ack to J udaism

o r to become Gentile Christian s—unless the y w ere ready
, ,

to su ffer ex c ommuni cation by the l atter O nly small .

fraction s o f the J ewish Christian b ody held out as sects -

ap art while the union o f th e ever multip lying Gentile

,
-

C hristi an s now styled the Catholic church un c hurche d

”
, ,
“ ” “ ”
the heretics and set up the new law in o pp osition to
,

th e old as its own in violable foundati on

,
Thus came .

into b eing the p resent c ollection o f N ew Test am ent

b oo ks the Church C atholic having ab out the end o f
,
”
,

the sec ond century sep arated the a p o c ryphal fro m the ,

c anonical S criptures B ut still for a long time th e char .

a c ter o f individual boo ks was in disp ute and John s “ Rev ,

’

”
elation together with several o f the Ep istles was till
, ,

re c ent times regarded b y di fferent perso n s or p arties as

ap o cryphal To the d e c rees of councils and p opes alone
.
’

i s it o wing that the re exists to day a canoni cal c ollection -

o f Scriptures and that the b ooks of the Can on are held to

,

b e inspired .

7 . TH E E L E M E N TS O F TH E C HU R C H .

I n this wi se wa s Christianism developed out of the

 SON OF MA N SON OF. . GO D 1 15

secret associations o f the an c ient wo rld Th e early Chris .

tians themselves were while under p e rse c ution in a cer , ,

tain sense a se c ret so cie ty Their worship pos s essed an .

essentially mystic c haracter I t was not so fro m th e b e .

ginning I n J esus tea c hings there is not one wo rd ab out

.
’

divine service or cults ; his surviving disciples knew o f no

“
other cult than the J ewish and t h ey assembled for b reak ,

ing b read i n their ho use s with o ut any p arad e No t until .

the Christian s had been excluded fro m the syn agog ues
were distinctive rites develop ed among them Th ere .

aro se among them prophets whose inspired wo rds were

the p rincip al feature o f th e religious service Psalm s .

were sung not yet in th e grand impressive melodies of

, ,

th e M iddle Age b ut in the long drawn p artly nasal

“
-

—
, ,

moaning tones still usual in Eastern lands tones tha t

,

defy all musical har m ony B esides men then spake

” “
.
,
” “ ”
tongu es o r at least uttered heaven st o r ming words
,
-

p ell mell in the heat of enthusiasm whi c h no one

-
, ,

speaker or he arer co uld well understand ; and men

,
“
p rophesied esp e c ially about th e end o f the world the
, ,

too slow onco ming o f whi ch caused mu c h wonderment in

those days All these stupidities by d e grees gave way
.
, ,

b efore the e fforts o f strong willed m en like Paul -

.

“ ”
Th e wo rd s i n meeting and the Lord s Supper (or Love
’

Feast) fell into the b ackgro und an d the supp er came to

, ,

b e simply a souven ir o f the Saviour s death and at l ast ’

was develop ed into a sacrament p ossessing the ch aracter

o f a mystery i e a p erformance th at m us t remain i n
'

. .
,

scruta b le to men though it was m en that c ontrived it

,
.

B aptis m was asso c iated as a sacrament with the supp er ,

and the m ysteries were multip lied We have al ready seen .

h o w the mysteries of the I ncarnation and Resurrection

aros e na m ely out of the necessity o f giving to J esus the
, ,
 M Y S TE R I A

stamp o f deity for wi thout that Christianis m never woul d

,

have attained a c o m m anding p lace i n th e world H o w

.

to these mysteries b y the purely human decrees o f th e

,

Nica e an Synod the s upre m e and mo st in c omprehen s ibl e

,

mystery o f all was added th e mystery o f th e Tri nity ; how

, ,

be c ause o f the impossibility o f coming to agre ement t e

ga rdi n g this th e Church Catholi c wa s split into t h e
,

Ro man an d G reek or W estern an d Ea stern c hurches ;

,

how in the W estern Chur c h th e bi shop s o f Rome ac hieved

supremacy ; all thi s belongs not to th e hi sto ry of the
,

mysteries b ut to t h e histo ry o f the Church

, .
 P AR T F I F TH .

A P s eu o M es s i ah
d - . A Ly i n g P r o p h e t.

1 . AP O LL O N IUS O F TY A N A .

Great must have been the amazement o f the Greeks

when o f a sudden in di ff e rent local ities within th e b road
,

Ro man Emp ire co mmunities arose which announced th e

,

su ffering and dying God J as i o s as the savior o f a new

a gfi a J a s i o s who under th e form o f a Jew all unknown
, ,

o utside his own count ry had but lately b een crucified ;

,

whereas J as i o s as all Initiates o f the Eleusinia and of

, ,

the mysteries o f Samothra ce well knew was ages an d ages ,

b efore slain b y the thunderbolt o f Z eus And still p o p u .

l at i o n s were p assing day after day o ver t o the crucified

J ew the So n o f God the wonde rwo rker who rose fro m
, , ,

th e grave who went up to h eaven And in c onsequence

,
.
,

o f his teaching tho u gh after all that did but comple

, , ,

ment the teaching of a Pythagoras a So crates a Plato , , ,

the noble statues of the G re ci an go d s we re falling

fro m their bases O ught the B eautiful to fall in order
.

t o m ake room for the Go o d ? Might not b oth stand

side by side ? And if a son o f God and a t h am at urge .

was required might not one be found without making o f

,

Zeus th e Thunderer a vi c ti m to that fearful Jewish Y ahve

of Mt Sinai ?
.

And such a son of G od and wonde rworker they

found The hea then p rophet Ap ollonius of Tya na was
.

117
1 18 M Y S TE R I A .

a c onte m p orary o f J e sus an d was d eep l y venerate d , .

And as it c han c ed a c ertain le arned Greek Flavius Phi

, , ,

l o s trat u s wr o t e a heathen go s p el o f t h e l i fe of t h is
,
“

Gre c ian saint not as one ho stile toward th e Christians

, ,

nor as one who woul d prove the ir do ctrine false b ut with ,

intent to c ome to t h e aid o f d ec ayi n g h e ath en d o m an d ,

p revent for a time its ove rthrow by Chri stianism To .

a ttain this end there must b e no m ention o f Christianism

or its author so that O l y mp us might tower again in all its

,

an c ient glo ry an d trium p h over Sinai and Tab o r Philos .

t rat u s co mpo sed his work a s he states out o f the notes , ,

o f a disci p l e of Apollonius one D amis n ative o f Ninive , , ,

by o rder o f Julia D omna wife o f the Emp eror S ep ti m i u s ,

Severus What p art of his wo rk consisted o f m atter

.

drawn fro m D am i s s notes an d wh at h e added out o f his

’

,
'

own fancy we can n ever determine B ut he sho wed

, .

true insight in making out hi s h ero to ha ve b e e n a

Pythago rean H e therefore rep resents Apoll o nius as de
.

riving his wisdo m indirectly fro m the most ancient mys

t eri e s those o f Egypt and fro m th e venerated Grecian
, ,

s ac red leagues .

Apollonius was b o rn in Tyana a town i n Capp a ,

~

do c ia Previous to his birth says P h il o s t ratu s the go d

.
, ,

Proteus appeared to his mother an d told h er that the

child soon to see the light was the God himself This .

happened in a meadow where after gath ering flowers , , ,

she had fallen asleep while s w ans gathered round her ,

and i n to n e dl th eir song When th e ch ild was grown up .

he became a strict o b se rver of the Pythagorean rule o f

life ab stainin g fro m fl e s h m e at an d wine an d wearing
, ,

linen garments H is ab od e was a tem ple sacred to Aes

.

c ul ap i u s go d of healing
, Unwo rthy o fferers of gifts t o .

the god he drove out and healed such o f the sick as re

,
 A P S E UD O - ME SSI A H 1 19

p e n t e d o transgressions H e rej e c te d the Grecian

f their .

mythology as fabulous p referring far to it the fable s of ,

Esop and his only p ra y er was addressed to t he sun H e

,
.

refused to tak e possession o f an estate inherited fro m his

’
father and impo sed on himself a silence o f several years
,

d u ration D uring his extensive travels he alway s lodged

.

in temples corrected abuses in the conduct o f the divine

,

se rvice couched his teachings in b rief senten c es gathered

, ,

aro un d hi m disci p les of whom o n e was false and a ,

traitor ; sided with the p ersecuted an d righted the wrongs

o f the O p pressed Eve rywhere h e understoo d the lan
.

guages of the n atives without learning them and even ,

read the thoughts o f men ; but the lan guage o f th e beasts

he lear ned fro m the Arab s o f M esopotamia O n e ntering .

that country the p ublican asked him whether he had with

him anything subj ect to toll The an swe r o f Apollonius .

was that he c arri ed abo ut righteousness temp eran c e a , ,

—
manly soul and a patient spirit and many another vir
tue named he Th e sullen taxman who had no mind for
.
,

anything that la v outside his own duties took th e names ,

“
o f vi rtues fo r names o f women saying : There your , ,

”
maids are all down in the bo ok B ut Ap ollonius calmly .

“
went hi s way with the b ri ef remark : They are n o t
,

”
maids but high b orn dames ; nor p aid h e impost o n his
,
-

ideal goods I n spite o f his fran kness o f spee ch h e wa s

.

treated wi th great distinction by the king o f that c oun

try He told the king that he would best stren gthen h i s
.

royal power by honoring m any and putting trust in but

a few The king who was ill h aving b een comforted
.
, ,

by th e p rophet confessed that he had b een freed from

,

anxiety not only with regard to his kingdo m but als o

, ,

with regard to death Fro m B aby l on A p ollonius bent .

his s teps tow ard India and there according to th e highly , ,

 M Y S TE R I A

e m bellish ed story saw men four o r five ells in height

, ,

also men who were half whi te an d half black d ragons too , ,

o f vari ous size he s aw H e constantly carri ed on with

.

D a m is the o ne dis ciple who a c co mpanied him i n s tru c

, ,

ti ve convers atio ns; ab out t h e animals an d the p eop le

who m they met An I n dian king d az zled by th e sp l endor
.
,

’
of th e p rophet s genius woul d not we ar the crown in his
,

p res en c e W ith the B rahmans many o f whose c o n j ur

.
,

feats are re c orded e g flitting th ro ugh the ai r or at

, . .
, ,

touch o f their wands c ausing the ea rth to sp ring alo ft ,

Apollonius swap ped wisdoms ; and as in the o pinion o f ,

Damis th e wi sdom of the B rahman s was derive d fro m

,

Pythagoras it was fro m Pythagoras also o f co urse that

, , ,

they got their do ctrine o f metemp sychosis We le arn that .

Apollonius also entertained that c urious ide a and that ,

he imagined himself to have b een on c e an Indian tax

gath erer and was wont to tell o f many in cidents o f that
,

p hase of his life Furth e rm ore in.his p r e se n ce the ,

B rahmans c ured the p ossessed the lame the blind an d , , ,

'

wo men in di ffi cult l abor by imposition o f hands and by , ,

giving goo d counsel s—p ractices resembli n g tho se used

'

in our day by s ymp ath i s ts s o c alled Ap ollonius re ,

-
.

turned to B a b ylon and Ninive pas sing through fab ulous ,

lands and then j ourneyed t o the I onian s o f Asia M inor

,
.

Apollo nius b anished from Ephesus an ep idemi c whi c h

was there raging by requiring the citizens t o ston e 3
,
.

b eggar in who m he discerned the d aemon who was th e

caus e of the di sease ; the c ulp rit under t h e storm of ,

stones was c hanged i ti to a d o g V oyaging by s ea to

, ,
.
‘

Gre ec e th e Sage Ap ollo nius imp osed o n hi s ship mate s

,

with the sto ry tha t A c hilles had app eared unto hi m fi ve

ells in height an d b e fore hi s eye s had grown to twe l ve
,

ells At Athens wh ere h e arrived during the Eleusinian

.
,
 A P SE U D O ME
- SSI A H 121

mysteries the p riests refused t o initiate him b e cause he

, ,

was a C on j urer ; whereup on the Sage of Tyana told the m

that alre ady he knew more abo ut t h e m ysteries than th e
p riests This alarme d them and they wi shed to re ca ll
.
,
’
their refusal ; b ut it was A p o l l o n i us s t urn n o w to refuse
them so he deferred to another time his initiation b ut
, ,

in pu b lic discourses let his light shine b efore th e A th e

n i an s
. I n Athens too there was a yo uth p ossessed who
, , ,

la ughed and cri ed without ca use Ap ollonius having de .

t e ct e d the true nat u re o f the ailment o f whic h no o ne else ,

had any suspicion with stern loo ks and words of mena c e

’

co n fronted the daemon who thereupon fled away and , ,

in token o f his p assage overturned a statue that no one

h ad to u c hed B ut the youth rubbing his eyes as though
.
,

waking fro m sleep was seen to b e cured ,

At Corinth .

the Sage detected in the b ride of a c omely youth a lamia

or empusa ; i e one o f a class o f spe c tral b eings tha t
. .
,

u sed to haunt p eo p le and und e r p retense of bein g in ,

love with them wo ul d e at the fl esh o ff their bones I n

, x
.

the p resen c e of Ap ollonius all h er arts and all her imps

di sapp eared and the sp e c tre was unmasked and confessed
,

her evil intent At the O lympian Games also this a pos tle
.

o f the Pythagorea n philo s ophy prea c hed H is following .

was in c reased by the a ccession of several memb ers with

“
their slaves ; these he called his congregatio n With .

them he went to Rome where the infa m o us Nero then ,

reigned who had p rohib ited philosophy whi c h h e c lassed

, ,

with soothsaying B ut one who was in the s e rvi c e of

.

the tyrant i m pressed by the wisdo m of th e traveler al

, ,

lowed him to le ct ure in the temples and to these le c tures ,

there was great con c ourse B ut one of his disciples who .

had a c comp a nied him fro m Corinth an d who in Rome ,

had ventured to co ndemn p ublicly the c ondu c t o f Nero

 M Y S TE R I A

and the p revailing immo rality was expelled the c ity b y ,

Tigellinus c aptain of t h e emp eror s b odyguard an d

,
’
,

trusty tool of the tyrant while Apollonius himself was ,

k ept u n der su rveillan c e B ut no t only c o uld nothing b e

.

p ro v ed agains t him ; his wi sdom fi l led even th e sanguina ry

minions with admiration though he sp oke t o the m o nly
,

the stern truth For e xample b eing asked b y Ti gell i

.
,

nus why h e had no fear o f Ne ro h e an swered : The Go d

“
,

who m akes him an o b j e c t of fe ar m ade me fearless .

“
Asked what h e thought o f N ero B etter than you do , ,

h e replied ; ye think him gifted fo r singin g I for sil en c e

’
“
.
,

Wh e reupo n Tigellinus : Go wh erever yo ui please ; yo u

“

are st ro nger tha n lan y p o wer o f min e

”
A b ri dle i n '
.

Ro me h avin g died the bo dy was on the way t o th e pl ac e

,

o f inte r ment Ap ollon ius b ade! th e b earers to h al t

. ,

touch ed the da m sel utte ring so m e se c ret wo rds and

, ,

called her b a c k fro m death P h il o strat us himself is in .

do ub t whether the death was not ap p arent on ly

'

The .

philosopher then j ourneyed to th e St rait o f G i b ral tar ,

when c e he traversed Sp ain Sicily and Gree c e and then , ,

revisited Egypt At Al exandria h e recognized the i n

.

n o c en c e of one a m ong eight cri m inals interceded for ,

hi m and had the man s e xecution put o ff till th e last

’

m o ment ; then arrived th e order to sp are his life ; he had

c onfessed only under to rture The sto ry i s also told tha t .

Ap ollonius o n payin g a visit to V espasian in Alexan

, , ,
“ ”
dria made him Caesar thu s gi ving to the Roman Em
, ,

pire on c e again after a l ong interval a j ust ruler ; b ut

, ,
’
after Vespa s ian s elevation to the th ro ne the philosopher ,

frankly spoke the t ruth to hi m, whe n the Em p eror an

n ulled as an unj ust p rivil e ge th e lib erties o f Greece
, , ,

whi c h Nero had in a ca p riciou s humor granted o n the

o ccas ion o f the O lympian Ga m es Leaving Egyp t .
,
 A P S E U DO ME
-
SSIA H 123

Ap oll o nius j ourneyed to Ethiopia to visit th e Gym n o s o

p h i s t s wh o,
dwelt i n a sort o f little repu b li c o f t h ei r
own on a mountain and condu c ted a famou s s c hool
, ,
.

Probably b ecause they were l ess con c eited went n aked , ,

and p erformed no magi c al feats our Sage deemed them ,

less wi se than th e Brahmans and ha d resultless c ont ro ,

versies with them about th e relative superio rity o f G re

eian and Egyptian art the former rep resenting the gods
,

as resem b ling man the latter as resem b ling animals I n

,
.

that region A p ollonius exorc ised a sa tyr th at was said to

have killed two wo m en Abo ut the tim e o f the taking of
.

Jerusalem by Titus Apollonius happened to be i n the

,

neighborhood of that c ity and p raised th e Rom an general ,

“ ”
for his moderation (though it was a curio us sort o f mod
e rati o n which leveled a great city with the ground ) Titus .

answered : I have m ad e con quest o f Solym a ; yo u have

“

”
made con q uest o f me and thereafter em p loyed Ap ollo
,

nius as his adviser At Tarsus he not only cured a yo ung

.

man o f hydropho b i a b ut the dog a l so that had bitten

,

him .

Having b oldly denoun c ed the Em p ero r D o m itian

at Ephesus Apollonius was b etrayed by h i s disci ple
,

Euphrates and a plot was laid against him S traigh t

, .

way h e took ship for Rome to confront the tyrant in ,

his p al a c e I n Rome h e was thro wn into p ri son an d

.
,

treated with m u ch harshness ; b ut he defended himself

wi th great sp irit against the c harges b rought by his ac
'
euser and was acq u itted Thereu p on he uttere d a t i rad e
, .

of repro a c hes against D o m i t i an s satellites and suddenly ’

vanished m ira c ulously fro m the j udgment hall appear ,

ing the sa m e day in th e vrc m i ty of Naples where he had ,

friends F ro m N aples h e went to Ephesus ; there in

.
,

ec stas y he saw the as sas s in atio n o f Do m itian

, at that ,
 M Y S TE R I A

mo ment taking pla c e in Ro m e ; then h e died None .

knew what age h e had attained wh ether 80 years or 1 00 , ,

nor the ti m e nor the place n o r th e m anner of his death

, ,
.

A cc ording to P h i l o s tratus h e app eared after h i s death

-

to a youn g man of his nativ e town Tyana wh o doubte d , ,

the i m m o rtality o f the soul and invoked Apollon i us t o ,

explain the matter ; b ut he was invisi b l e to th e o th er

p e rs o n s p res en t .

2 A I I E XA N D E R T H '
. E FA L S E P R OP H E T .

I t i s no m atter o f surp rise that the c old austere ,

virtue and wisdom the rather hollow religion and the

, ,

c lumsy miracles o f Ap olloni us neither b uilt up a schoo l

for hi m nor kept th e heathen reli gi o n on its feet ; an d
though the empero r s of the third c entury from Cara ,

calla to Dio cletian consecrated temples to him and one of

, ,

the m Alexander S everus pla c ed h i s b ust wi th th o s e of

, , ,
'

Mo ses Socrates an d J esus in his private ch apel never

, , ,

t h e l e s s th e Sage o f Ty an a was soon forgotten and with ,

hi m alas ! the memo ry o f his no b l e c ourage in the p res

,

ence of tyrants O n t h e oth er hand th e charlatan ry h e

.
,

practi c ed b eca m e mo re an d more the order o f th e day till ,

at last it threw o ff all disguise W hether thi s result is .

c h argea b le to his dis c iples who like the disciples o f an

, ,

other ma ster p rized his miracles m ore than h i s tea c hings

, ,

i s a question that c annot b e de c ided ; b ut th e fac t i s that

so o n after hi s death ( the c lose o f th e first century) a
num b er o f im p o stors wearing the cloak of religion began
, ,

t o ply their trade The sati rist Lu c ian who lived in th e

—
.
,

se c ond century and wh o made sp o rt of eve rything t e

,

l i gi o n and p hilo sophy gods and m en heathen and

, ,

C hristian s— has im m o rtali z ed th e t o m f o o le ri es of t h es e

p s eud o p ro p h et s .
 A P SE UD O - ME SSIA H 1 25

O f these the best known was Alexa nder o f A b o n o t i

'

ch u s in Asia Minor a man greater in fraud says Lucian

, , , ,

than hi s namesake the s o n o f Philip in herois m H e

. ,
.

was a large handsome m an and b y scrup ulous c are o f

, ,

h is com p l exion his hair and hi s beard enhan c ed the

, , ,

advantage n ature had given him B ut his character was .

“
a co mpound of m endacity fraud perj ury and low tri c ks , , ,
”
of every kind I n hi s boyhood h e was app renticed to
.

a qua c k o f Ty ana a renegade discipl e o f Ap olloniu s

,

( whose life by the ,

way Lu c ian wh o
’

lived n earer to him

, ,

than P h il o s tratu s c all s a ,

and b y him was i n
structed in al l the art i fi ce s whereby one c an o utwit an d
’
d efraud hi s fellows After his master s death Alexan der
.

went into b usiness on hi s o wn account I n Ma c edonia .

he p ro c ured o ne o f the large harml ess serp ents fou n d in

that provin c e and went ba c k to his native town—Ab ono
t i ch u s —there to set up an oracle facto ry as Lu c ian c alls
“ ”
,

it At Chalcedon he secretly p la c ed on a roadside a ta b

.

let bearing th e inscriptio n that the go d Aesculap ius with ,

hi s father Apollo was soon to b e at Ab o n o ti ch us ; th e

, ,

finding of this tablet caused great ex c itement M ean .

!

while Al exand er in his native pla c e went about with his

, ,

long curling locks falling over his shoulders wea ring a

, ,

p pu r le rob e with w h ite stripes and arm ed wi th a sab re ,

.

H is stupid fellow townsmen though they k n ew his ,

parents wh o were poor believed hi m when h e claimed

, ,

descent fro m Perseus and when th ey hea rd o f the tablet ,

set a b out ere c ting a temp le to Aesculap i u s B etween th e .

foundation stones o f th e templ e Alexander s e c retly plac ed

a goose egg shell c ontaining a newly hat c h e d snake ; then
- -

with the wi ld gesticulations o f a god inspired enthusi ast -

,

h astened to the market — p lace an d there announced to ,

‘

the p eople that Aes c ulapius had j ust b een bo rn at the

1 26 M Y S TE R I A

te m ple in the form of a serp ent To p rove h is o rac l e tru e

.

h e held up b efore th em the egg with the snak e O n th e .

p ub lication of this wondro us news the pop ula ce flo c ke d ,

to the market p lace -

Alexander had a hut o f b o ards
.

erected within which he seated himsel f in a re c lining

,

c hair ; th en taking up th e l arge snake alre ady mention ed ,

whi ch he h ad kep t out o f sight he lai d it on his b reast

, ,

drew over its head a l inen mask p ainted to resem b le a ,

h u m an fa c e the mouth o f which would op en an d shut o n

,

p ulling a strin g and gave out to the p eople that th e

,

new b o rn go d h ad already grown to that gre at size an d ,

was now ready to give oracles From all Asia M inor .

and Thra c e the people c ame in thous ands to witness the .

mira c l e The m ysti c se m i o b s c urity o f th e hut an d the

.
-

ma gical e ffec ts of artificial light magnified the impression

that the c harlatan and his snake m ad e on the p eopl e .

Who ever wi shed to receive an oracle o f the god had to

write his q uestion o n a tablet whi ch was the n to b e ,

sealed with wax an d handed to the p rophet When th e .

p eopl e h ad retired he m elted th e seals read the ques ,

tion s wrote the an swers then sealed the tablets again

, , ,

an d gave them b ack (with th e answe rs ) th e sea ls appar .

ently intact Th e t ari ff for ora c les was a drach m a and

.

eight o b oli (ab out 2 5 c ents) and the an nual rec eipts
,

amounted to seventy or eighty thousand dra ch m as (s ay

b ut h e had out o f thi s sum to p ay a host o f
assistants an d confede rates W hen th e te m ple was c o m
.

p l e t e d Alex a nder carried on his b usiness there .

B ut his ti tle to pu b li c regard did not p ass un ch al le nged .

The Epi c u re ans who detested all tri c ke ry and who b e

, ,

l i eve d that enj oy m ent was the only end in life worth
thinking o f m anifested their ho stility to th e p ro p het and
, ,

were in turn denoun c ed b y hi m as ath eists and Chri s

, ,
 A P S E U DO - ME SSI A H 127

t ians .
afeguard his reputation he adde d to his
To s
reperto ire First h e be gan t o give o ra c les viva vo ce a
.
, ,

c onfederate b ehind a screen sp eaking the resp onses into

a tub e termina ting at the m outh o f th e snake s mask
’
.

B ut the charge for s uch o racles was higher an d they ,

were elicited only for th e b eho o f o f p ersons o f eminence .

Alex ander s fame spread even to Rome and dup es fro m

’
,

th at seat o f enl i ghten m ent c a m e t o c on sult the s er

pent god O n e o f thes e addle p ate pilgri ms fro m Rome
-
.
-

ask ed the orac le what m anner o f wom an he sho uld take “

to wife The oracle named the daughter o f Alexander ;

.

so he m arried her and o ffered h e catom b s t o h is mother

,

i n law his b ride s mother in h er cap a c ity o f moon go d

’
- -
, ,

de s s for su c h Alexander gave her out to b e E n co u r

,
.

aged b y m any su c ces ses not inferio r to this th e p rophet ,

instituted many mystic festival s f rom whi c h he excluded ,

all un b elievers in Go d as Epicurean s an d Christian s At ,

.

these festivals the birt h o f Aesculapiu s and the nuptials

o f Alexander and the Mo o n Goddes s were represented -

dramat ically tho ugh p erhap s a trifle too realistically

, .

The proph et also c laimed to b e a reincarn atio n of

Pythagoras and in proo f showed his thigh en c ased in
,
“

gilded leather H is life was a continuous de b auch I n

. .

ti m e he began to hold wha t we sho uld now call dark

se an ces ; that is h e wo u ld sit in ab sol ute da rkness and
,

make e p o n s e to que s tions sub mitted in writing on

fr s

sealed ta b lets As he co uld not rea d the questions at

. .

all his answers (the o racles) were expressed fo r th e most

,

part in unintelligi ble lang uage Lucian on c e te s ted his .

po wers b y s ubmitting to him the o n e question When “

,
”
will Alexander be caught at his tricks wri tten on eight ,

tablet s ; he go t eight di fferen t answers al l irrelev an t H e , .

m issed no opport unity o f un m asking the rogue and o f ,

 M Y S TE R I A
’

tea c hing the people b y the eviden c e o f their o wn sense s

that th e m an was a vul ga r i m p ostor Th e knav e a ffe c te d .

a mil d fri endship for hi s advers ary b ut h e b ri b e d th e ,

h elm sman o f a vessel o n which Lu c ian sailed to throw

hi m overb oard ; this th e man had not th e c ourage to do : .

Lu c 1an wi shed to have the imp o stor p ut on trial for

this crime b ut th e p ro consul advised hi m not to invoke
,
'

the help o f the law Alexander b eing too high in favor

,

with the o fficials and th e pu b lic The c ity o f A b ono .

t i ch u s h ad coins struck b earing the e ffi g y o f the A e s c ul a

p ius se rp ent an d th e p s e ud o p ro p h et attained th e age o f
,

seventy years enj oy i n g to the en d th e un diminished re

,

sp e c t of the p eople .

M any were the imp osto rs tha t spran g up after Alex

-

ander and wherever th ere was any l ac k o f real one s fi c

, ,
~

t i ti o u s p s e u d o p ro p h et s wer e ima gi ned b y sati ri c writers ,

Lucian s Peregrinu s for exa m ple a renegade Christi an

’

, ,

who devotes himsel f to a death by fi re to win fame It .

was a mad world then New mysteries w e re invented in

.

p lenty ,
and p eople c am e i n c rowds for initiation T h e .

“ ”
Golden As s o f Ap uleius i s a striking satire on thi s
mystery furo re .To this p eriod b elong th e Gno sti c s '
,

wh o se do ctrine s were a mixture of Judaism heathenis m ,

and Christian is m ; th e M ani c hees who gav e a Chri sti an

,

varnish to th e Persian fi re worship ; th e K ab b alists wh o ,

h eap ed a vast a m o unt o f ru bb ish together go t out o f ,

th e H ebrew B ible b y j uggling with its sentences words , ,

l etters an d n um b ers Amid this tangl e o f do ctrines the

.

heathe n reli gi on s sank J udai sm lo st its native land an d

, ,

Chri sti anis m fell into an i n cal c ulab le nu mb e r o f se c ts

ah evil th at was not to b e corrected even b y the arti fi cial

unity of th e Church under the Apo stoli c al See .

 P AR T S I X TH .

Th e K n i gh ts Te m p I a r .

1 . TH E
“
M IDDLE AGE .

With the s p read o f Christianism the heathen m ys t e

ries came eve rywhere to an end an d the Christian m yste ,

ries too k their p lace Th e Ch ristian s it i s true no , ,

longer co nstituted a secret society after their faith h ad ,

be c ome the creed of the state ; but there was plenty o f

mystic doctrine nevertheless and incessant stri fe o f par
, ,

ties and sects Arians and Athanasians Pelagian s an d

, ,

S e m ip e la gi an s Nestorians Monophysites and M o n o th e

, ,

lites Adoptionists Priscilliani sts and D onatists t o name

, , , ,

no more over Ch ri st s nature o n the question whether

,
’

the H oly Gho st pro ceeds only fro m the Father o r equally
fro m him a nd th e Son ; whether the soul is saved b v
goo d works o r by g race o f Go d and so on inte rm inably ,

This w rangling so o ccupied th e minds o f all that there

was no longer ne e d of secret societies Theolo gy i e .
,
. .
,

the struggle for creed and war i e the struggle for

, , . .
,

p ower were the o ccup ation s o f th e M iddl e Age Mo nks

, .

and knights were the two great classe s o f that time with ,

the Pop e as supreme head on on e side an d th e Emp ero r ,

on the other .

All the availa b l e knowledge was in the M iddle Age

employed in the se rvi ce o f th e Church an d hence scien c e ,

slept from the migration o f the barbarian s till t h e i n ven

1 29
13 0 M Y S TE R I A

tion o f printing D uring that period o f a thousand years

.

no addition was m ade to the sum of human knowledge

‘

Arabian and Jewish physicians alone labored to save

the intelle ctual wealth inherited from th e an c ient Greeks .

As for Ch ri stendo m it was involved in p rofound i n t el l e c

,

t ual darkness and the D o c trine o f Light that had b een

,

publi shed by th e C arp enter s Son was lost am id petty ’

controversies and inane interp retations till at last its ,

stri ct ly monotheisti c groundwo rk was forgotten an d ,

there remained vi sible only the sup erstructure o f eth nic

mysticism and o f do ctrines as the Trinity I nc arnation , , ,

Resurrection and Ascen sion b o rrowe d fro m Egyp tian

, ,

and Gre c ian mythology .

And t h i s eth n i c o mysti c stru c ture a c quired a splen

'

dor and a p ower n ever b efo re e qualed so that th e system ,

was credited to divine intervention whereas its p urely ,

human o rigin might easily have b een trac ed Th e root .

i dea o f the ethni c mysticism was to seek the suppo sedly

“
lost deity to find him to b e unified with him An d the
”
, ,
.

sel f sam e idea underlay th e Chri stian mysti c i sm an d it

-
,

was by calling that idea into play and by giving it ex

pression in b rilliant achievement that thi s mystici sm won ,

its highest triu m ph an d aided b y the Papa c y its wi dest

, , ,

influen ce This n ew emb odiment o f the mystical idea

.

was seen in th e Crusades in which the Ch ri stian mysti cs ,

j oined going forth to seek th e lost sep ulchre o f their

,

God and to obtai n c ontrol of it Pos session o f th e s ep ul

,
.

ch re would b e the surest guarantee for the uni fic atio n o f

go d head and humanity .

I n this undertaking the t wo most p owerful estates

—
of th e M idd le A ge took part th e monk s and the knights .

The monks under o rders fro m th e Pope j oine d the

, ,

armies o f the c ro ss; the knights c o mm an ded b y th e Em ,

 TH E KN G I HTS T E M P LA R 13 1

p e ro r,
marched to the Holy Land and conquere d i t .

After the con q uest when there was a kingdo m o f Jer u

,

salem after the model o f the kingdom s of the W est there ,

arose as the necessary summit of mediaeval aspiration

, ,

the union o f mo nkery and chival ry in the monkish o rders ,

of knights whose memb ers wore th e swo rd o f th e k n ight

,

and took the monastic vows o f p ove rty c h astity and , ,

obed ie n ce .

Th ese organization s had their origi n in the gradual

assump tion of knightly elements b y the m o nasti c orders .

Some merchants o f A m al fi oldest commercial empori um ,

o f Italy h ad as early as 1 048 founded a monaste ry and

, , ,

a church at Jerusalem and in conj unction with these a

,

hosp ital in hono r of John th e Bap tist There the m onks .

c ared for pilgrim s wh o were poor or ai ling Pop e P as .

chal I I granted them a m o nastic con stitutio n in 1 1 1 3

.
,

and Godfrey o f B o u illon soon after the capture o f Jeru

,

s al em endowed the m wi th considerab le p rop erties

, .

Th ey to ok th e title o f B rothers H o sp italers o f Saint

J ohn o f Jeru sal em ; their habit consi sted o f a black m antle
wi th a white cro ss A few years l ate r ( 1 1 1 9) the Knigh t s
.

Hugo of Pa yns and Godfrey of Saint O mers associated

, ,

themselves and six other knights all Fren ch i n a mili , ,

“ ”
tary league under the style Poor Knights o f Ch rist
, ,

pledging themselves to keep th e highways o f the H oly

Land s afe for pilgrims and to observe the rule o f Saint
,

B enedi ct Th e members were favore d by King B aldwi n

.

I and the Patria rch o f Jerusalem and cam e to be c al l ed

.
,

Templars b ecause their convent stood o n the site o f th e

,

Solomonic Tem p le The Templars received from the

.

Syno d o f Troyes in 1 1 2 8 reco gnition as a regular order ,

a monasti c rule a mon as tic habit a spe c ial b an n er et c

,
‘

, , .

About the sa m e date th e H osp italers J ohannites or , ,

13 2 M Y S TE R I A

Knights o f Saint J ohn of Jerus alem b e ca m e invested ,

with the knightly character After the H ospitalers came

.

the German Knights whose theatre o f ac tion was princi

,

p ally th e region o f the B altic Sea b ut th ey also s aw ,

se rvi ce in Sp ain in the war against th e S aracen s O ther .

knightly orders were those o f C alatrava of Alcantara o f , ,

Santiago de C o m p o s te l l a in England th e o rder o f the

,

Knights o f th e H oly S epul chre etc ,

.

2 TH E
. TE M P L A R S ‘

None o f these orders rose to high er di stin c tion than

t h e order o f the Templars or o f th e Poor Comp an i ons
“
,
”
o f the Templ e o f Jerusalem as it was styled i n its rule
, .

In tho se days it was full o f th e spiri t o f lowliness b ut '

th e time c am e when the knights were no longer called

themselves Poor Co mp an ions b ut Knights Templar
“ ” “
, .

At first the b rethren begged their bread fasted were dili , ,

.

gent in attendance o n divine worship p erformed th e duties ,

o f their religion fe d the poor cared for th e si ck Plain

, , .

and unadorned was their attire in c olor either bl ack , ,

white or b rown ; an d the b rother who tried to get the

finest ha b it got the shabb iest The hair and b eard were
.

clo se cropped The chase was not p ermitted e xcep t for

.
,

the extermination of beasts of p rey W omen were not .

allowed to live in th e houses of the order ; the b rethren

might not so much as kiss their female relations B ut .

their mo de o f life became in time very di fferent They .

b ecam e ri ch in wo rldly goods an d so b roke the vo w of

,

poverty As an o rder and as indivi du al s they followed

.

their o wn inclinations and thus was their vow o f obedi

,

en c e made nought ; and their vow o f chasti ty fared not

—
better ; whil eth e sp eci fic vow o f th e order p rote c tion o f
p ilgrims to the H o ly Lan d b e c a m e a nullity through
-
 TH E K N I G HTS T E M P LA R 13 3

their n egligence or even b y their treasonabl e surrender

,

of posts to th e Saracens .

The c andidate fo r admission t o th e order was re

quired to b e of nob le birth though sometime s i ll e gi t i
,

mate sons o f knights were received Furthermore the .

,

candidate must be unmarried and un b etrothed ; but this

rule was circumvented b y taking married candidates as
“
a ffiliate mem b ers ; they also admitted mino rs and even
”

small boys Lucre was the impelling mo tive o f this d i s

.

regard o f their r u le ; money was their go d N o other .

order o f knights was in such disrep ute for l ewdn ess d u ,

p l i c,
i t y even treason . O riginally all Templars were o f
—
one rank and degree that o f knights B ut in tim e e c .

c l e s i as t i c s were admitted t o attend to the sp iritual a ffairs ,

and these eccle s i as ti c s were m ade independent o f the o r

-

d i n ary j uri sdiction o f diocesans Thus was formed a

.

seco nd ran k or degree subordinate to the knights and

, ,

m o re d ummies on festival and ceremonial o c c asions .

Then was added still another cla ss S e rvi en t e s who we re

, ,
'

t h e p ers onal atte n dants o f the knights o r were other wise ,

employed for the b enefit o f the order as me chanics labor , ,

ers etc The class Affiliate s c omprised p ersons o f al l

,
.

ra ks in life and o f both sexes Th ey were not bound by

n .
?

all the vows o f th e order ; they were re q uired to m ake

the order heir of their property ; b ut they did not live
in the houses o f the order These s everal cl asses were
.

distinguished by their attire Knights wore a white

.

mantle with an eight pointed red cro ss over the left

-

breast Clerics wore the casso ck with b rown m antle (th e

.
,

mantle o f the higher clerics was white ) S e rvi en t e s wore .

a brown gar b The members called e ac h other B rother

.

and indeed t h ev stood b y each o ther like brothers ; in

bat tle their p ersonal b ravery was irrep roacha b le .
 '
13 4 M Y S TE R I A

All thes e religious orders o f knights p o ssessed great

power in the M iddle Age t heir grand ma sters ranking
,

next after Pop es an d monarch s I n fact they reco gnized

.

n o emp ero r o r king as th eir lord b ut o nly th e Pop e ,

.

The orders were favored b y th e Pontiffs who lo aded them ,

with p raise and p rivileges though they feared them I f

,
.

the Po p e s had now the arm o f the flesh and not of th e

spirit only to defend the m against th e se c ular p o wer they ,

ow e d that adva ntage to the knightly o rd ers An d sp ec ial ly .

were they b eholden to th e Temp lars in this regard The .

Te mplars were free fro m all Church tribute and by the ,

Pop e s favor had the right to harb or exco m muni cated

’

knights to conduct divi ne service in church es that were

,

under interdi ct to found c hurche s an d churchyards ;

,
‘

whi c h p rivilege s b ro u ght down upo n them the enmity o f

th e clergy As the o rder was exempt fro m al l epis copal
.

j urisdiction and subj ect only to the Roman See the ,

bishop s endeavored to hav e that and o ther like pri vi

leges abated b y the Lateran Council in 1 1 79 At the .

t ime o f their suppression the Temp la rs p ossessed an em

p ire o f five p rovinces in th e E a st and sixteen in t h
'
e West ,

wi th houses o f th e o rder I n po ssession of such

. .

resources they aime d at nothing sh ort of makin g all

,

Chri ste ndom dependent on their o rder and t o set up a ,

so rt of military ari st o c ratic co mmonwe alth governed o s ,

tensibly b y th e Pop e b ut really by themselves with their

, ,

grand master at the head Th e g ran dmaster o f the Tem

.

p l a rs w a s elected by a college o f e i
“
g h t k n i g h t s four ser ,

vi e n t e s and o n e cleric .Th e Grandmaster was only

pres id ent o f the Council and its rep resentative ; b ut in
’
war h e had sup reme command ; a s th e Pop e s deputy he
had j urisdi ction over th e clerics A splendid re tinu e at
.

tended him and he had a treasu ry at hi s disp o sal Next

,
.
 TH E KN GI HT S T E M P L A R 13 5

. n ran k after him stood the Seneschal h i s dep uty for ,

civil a ffairs and the Marshal for military the Treasurer

, , ,

the D rapier The Council ( Co n ven tu s ) consisted of th e

.

Grandmaster his assis tants ,

th e grand o fficers j ust '

m entioned ) Provincial Masters who might b e present

, ,

and such knights as the Grandmaster might summon .

By addition o f all eminent Templ ars the Council became

the Gen eral C h ap ter ; this was the legisl ative bo dy The .

o t her knightly orders were organized on a plan not e s

s e n t i ai l y different What interests u s most at present is
.

tho se features o f the Tem p lar order which marked it as

i n some re p e cts a s e c r e t s o c i e t y
s
.

The o rder took its first ste p s in this direction in the

thirteenth century moved thereto by desire to safegua rd
‘

its riches and p ow e r Its secret doc trines o r tenets were

.

bo rrowed fro m the heretic al sects of the time—Albigenses

—
and Waldenses o r were such beliefs a s were held in s e
'

cret by many o f t h e most enlightened men S uch views .

were shared by religious men s c hol ars and worldlings , ,

alike by the first class o ut of indi gnation again st the

,

moral degeneratio n o f the rulers of th e Church ; by the

’

second because they suspected that th e Church s dog

,

mas were but inventions of Po p es and councils and by ,

the third , b ecaus e in rej ecting the Chur c h s authority ’

and accepting the heretical doctrines they fan cie d tha t ,

they were freed fro m the obligations of m orality B u t

j
.

the Templars who were neither p ious nor learned

, ,

but of whom many were ve ry worldly i ndeed foun d the ,

enlightened new o p inions to coincide well wi th their i n

t e re s t which p rompted them to care rather fo r their
,

numerou s possessions in the West than for th e few they

held in lands occupied by the Mo slem God sai d they .
, ,

showed his favor to the M ohammedans in the Crusades .

 M Y STE R I A

and evidently wille d th e defeat o f t h e Chri sti an arm s So . .

by adopting th e more enlighten ed vi ews they p rep ared ,

the way for a withdrawal from t h e useless Crusa d es an d ,

a return with b ag and b aggag e to Europe where they ,

could rest fro m their gl o rio us but h a rd an d thankless

martial labors and devote themselves to the service of
,

p rinc es or pas s the time in th e splendid hous e s o f thei r

,

o rder amid O riental luxu ry and surrounded by gardens

, ,

like Fai ryl an d beguiling th e hours wi th gamin g an d the

,

chase with songs and lovemaking the whil e not neglec t

, ,

ing their political interests B ut the T emp lars were

.

rapidly nearing their downfall .

3 . TH E S E CR E T S O F TH E TE lM P I JA R lS '
.

Th e Ar c ana of the Te m pl ars consisted of a s ecret

doctri ne and of a cult b a s ed o n the same The d o ct rin e .
,

which had no groun d in scientifi c res e arch se ems to h ave ,

b een akin to the do ctrine of certain sects specially the ,

Albi genses who w orship ed a sup erior god o f h ave n an d

,
e

an inferio r go d o f eart h and ascribed to the latter the

,

o rigin o f evil Fo r the Templars Christ was no S o n o f

.
,

God had worked no mira c les had n either ri sen from th e

, ,

d ead nor ascended into heaven ; he was in fa c t o ften , ,

’
spoken of as a false p rophet The Church s do ctrine re
. . .

garding the tra nsub stantiation o f the bread in the mass

was fo r them crass sup erstition the eucharist only a co m ,

m emorative rite the sacrament o f p enance a pri estly i m

,

p osture the Trinity a human invention veneration o f the

, ,

cross an a c t of idol atry That the opp osition o f the order

.

to th e last mentioned custom led on fe s tival o c casion s

-
,

and partic ul arly whe n new members were admitted to ,

overt acts of co n te mpt fo r the cross t o spitting on the ,

 TH E K N I G HTS T E M P LA R 13 7

r
c o ss
,
for example — a cc usation s like that are grave not
only fro m the point of view of th e Church b ut even of ,

common p ropriety and they played an important p art in

,

the prosecution o f the Te m plars Th at p o stul ants were .

compelled by force of arms and other violen t m eans to

pe rform such highly reprehen sible acts i s not to b e dis
c redited entirely for they may h ave b een part o f a test
,

o f the p ostulants willingn ess to ob ey sup eriors : an d b e

’

sides the ob j ectionable ceremony wa s not prac ti c ed every

,

where b ut only in France More excusable was th e o f

,
.

fe n s e o f the Templars in loo king on the cro ss broidered

on their mantl e n ot as the sign of redemption b ut as a
, ,

double T th e initial letter o f th e name o f the ir society

, .

They were s aid also to have sub stitute d Joh n th e B aptist ~

in t h e p lace o f Jesus as the o rder s patron be c ause J ohn ’

did not pret end to mira culous p owers nor declare hi mself
the M es siah . The clerics of the order must have ap
proved these h ereti c al opinion s and p ra c ti c es There .

were at that tim e m any enlightened churchmen an d it i s ,

to be presumed that th e Temp lars wo uld adopt su ch o f

them as were at varian ce with th e hierarc hy and took
refuge in th e order .

The Temp lars secret rites intro du c ed i n th e m iddle

’

o f the thirte enth century were p ra c ti ce d as part o f thei r

,

pe c uliar religious s ervice and at the a d mission o f n ew

,

m embers : for though the Catholic liturgy was used in

their chapels the initiated p erfo rm e d a cul t o f their o wn
,

in the chap ter house or chap el before b reak o f day T h i s

, , .

c onsisted of confession and com m unio n as unde rs tood ,

b y Templars This confessio n they regarded on t h e o n e

.

h and as an act of b rotherly trust an d on th e oth er o f ,

b ro therly c o unsel : hen ce they con fessed o nly to th e,

chap l ai ns o f t h e ord er ; in t h e latte r ti m es o f t h e o rder

13 8 M Y S TE R I A

the m e mb ers were forb idden to c onfess to priests that

were not Temp lars By them the communion was t ake n
.

in the natural s p eci es an d sub stance o f bread an d win e ,

an d in token o f brotherly love not as c o m me m o rati v e o f

,

any sa cri fic e .

Two images played a part in the Templar ri tes The .

’
image of John the Baptist typified the o rder s oppositio n
to the Church s creed ’
The other image j ealously
.
,

guarde d fro m the eyes o f o utsiders has been called an ,

“ ”
idol . I t was made c h i e fl v of copp er gi lt and rep re , ,

sented no w a human skull anon the c ountenance of an

-

o ld man h eavily b earded (m ak ro p ro s o p o s ) again a very ,

small fa c e (m i k ro p ro s o p o s ) which would b e now the face

,

o f a man then of a woman anon m ale and fem al e at

, ,

o nce ; it wo uld have now one again two o r three he ad s

,
‘

, ,

with b right shining ey e s o f carbuncles The idol was b y .

so me Te m p lars c alled B as s o m e t but why do e s not ap

“ ”
, ,

p ear . From the statements o f mem b ers o f the o rder it

would see m th at this i dol was a kind o f tal isman tha t
b rought all manner o f good fo rtune ; that it was s e t up
fo r ven erat i o n as rival to th e cro ss and that the y cal le d, ,

“
it the savi o r o f th e order .

There were two forms o f admission the general and ,

th e sp ec ial ( or secret) form : the latter was used only at the

admission of p o stulants that could be truste d with the
se c rets of the order The Scribe acting as Receptor first
.
, ,

asked the brethren in chapter if they had any obj ection

, ,

to m ake th e ad m ission o f th e po stulant I f none o b .

j ec t e d t h e postulant was led into an adj oining roo m

an d questio ned as to h i s purp ose in seeking e n t ran c e to '

t h e o rder whether he knew of any im p ediment o n his

,

p art wh ether h e owed debts that he could not p ay

, ,

whether h e was married or engaged t o be married an d ,

 TH E K
‘
N I GHTS T E M P L A R 139

so forth . The question s having been satisfa c to rily an

s we re d
,
and the minutes of the replies rep o rt ed to the
brethren the matter was again p ut to vote N ext the
,
.
,

c an didate was brought b efore the c hapter an d after , ,

mo re questioning took the vows and was fo rm ally ad

,
.

m i tte d
. I n the secret rite o f ad m issio n the Re c epto r
“
showe d to the c andidate the I dol with the se wo rds : B e ,

lieve in this p ut your trust in this and all w

,
i ll b e wel l ,

with yo u . Then he gi rded the candidate with a c ord of

white wool fibres th e B ap tist s gi rdle as it was c alled
,
’

, ,

whi c h he was to wear over the shirt Th e obligatio n o f

'

. .

s ecrecy was very ste rnly enfor c ed Th ose who b etrayed .

an y of the se c rets of t h e o rd e r were c ast into p ris o n an d

.
,

the c andidate was threa tened with dungeon s and death

should he communi c ate t o an o utsider any in for m ation
about the ceremony o f initiation .

Thus did th e Temp lars an o rder institute d fo r the ,

’
purp ose o f guarding the Church s int erests in th e end ,
’
rej ect the Chu rch s doctrines and adopt principles that ,

tended inevitably to the overthrow not only o f th e Pap acy , ,

b ut o f Christianism itself Such was the irre c on c ilable .

op p osition be tween the avowed and the se c ret convie

‘

tio ns of the Temp lar s and such was the h ypo c risy of t h e
,

order : for th o ugh they had apo statized fro m the c r eeds
,

o f the C h urch they would not fo rm ally quit her com

,

m union ; and though they regarded as tru e ma ny points

o f anti Christi an d o c trine they veiled these wi th m ystery
-
, ,

or even on o cc cas i o n m ade spo rt o f them instead o f p ub

“
,

l i s h i n g the m as so m any p oo r, un arm ed hereti c s did ; an d

,

h e n c e their asp irat io ns were foiled an d th e most powe rful ,

asso ciation o f that ti m e p eri sh ed not in glo rio u s b attle , ,

b ut in igno m inious dun geo n s an d at th e stak e .

 '

M Y S TE R I A

4 . T H E D O VV N F A I J L OF TH E K N I G HTS T E M P L A R ‘ '
.

The Crus ades ha ving failed utterly the H oly Lan d ,

“ ”
having again come under the power o f the i n fi d e l s an d ,

th e o ccup atio n of the knightly o rd ers having gone the ,

Pop es cast about f0r a remed y fo r thi s undesira b l e state

o f things Th e order of Germ an Kni gh ts had alre ady
.

forestalled the p ro b lem b y choosing as their theatre of

action th e countries o n the B alti c Sea and the Spanish ,

orders by waging conti nual wars agai nst th e M oors ; and

the Knight s o f Sai nt J ohn ( Hosp italers ) later found a
place fo r themselves by o cc upying Rhodes B ut th e Te m .

p l ars were wi thout an y fit employment an d that circu m ,

stan ce was th e o cc asion of their down fall A b out th e .

year 1 3 05 Pop e Clem ent V p ropos ed a union o f the

.

Templars with the H o sp italers an d if possi b le wi th oth er

, , ,

orders b ut b o th Tem p lars and H o sp i tal ers rej e c ted t h e

,

advice .

Philip IV (th e Fair) o f Fran c e found in th e Templars

.

a serious o b st ac l e to his a mb ition and i n the early years o f

,

his reign sought to co mp el them by fo r c e to aid him in h i s

schemes ; b ut failing in that design tried to win th em b y ,

loading them with favo rs M any di fferen t expl an ation s

.

h ave b een o ffered to account for another chan ge o f poli c y

o n the p art of Philip but non e o f them i s hi stori c al ly
,

sound ! Pro b ab ly t h e c h an ge noti c e ab le in the ki n g s ’

attitud e to war d the o rder in 1 3 05 was in som e way c o n

n e c t e d with the outrageou s doings o f th e Inquisition i n

the South of Fran c e ; do u b tless rumors o f heresy i n th e

Templ ar order h ad c o m e to the omnip res ent ear o f th e
H oly Co urt Th e I n quisitor G eneral o f Fran c e W illi am
.
-
,

I mbert p rior o f the D ominican s in Paris b egged th e

, ,

Ki ng to call the Templars to ac c o unt Th e Kin g on Nov .

, .
 TH E K NI G HTS T E M P I JA R 14 1

1 4, 1 3 05, info rm ed Clement V o f the ac c us ati o n but . ,

Clement notwi thstanding this invited not only the

, ,

Grandmaster o f the H o spitalers b ut also the head of ,

the Templars to meet with himself in conferen c e about

,

the p roj ect o f a n ew Crusade Y et in hi s letter to the .

Temp lar s Grandmaster J ame s M o l ay (who resided in

’

hi s palace in Cy p ru s) he counseled hi m to co m e without

,
“
escort lest the n ews o f his departure should give o cca
,

sio n to enemies (o f th e o rder) to make a sudden o u ~

”
s l au gh t The Master o f the H ospitalers was unable to
.

come b eing b u sied with the siege o f Rhodes and Molay

, , ,

’
contrary to the Pope s advice came to France esco rte d ,

by his entire council sixty knights and b ringing th e , ,

treasure and the ar c hives o f his o rder I n M ay I 307 th e .

, ,

Po p e and the King met at P o i ct i e rs and it i s supp osed , , ,

discussed thoroughly t h e question of the Templars : about

the same ti me the Tem p lars informed the Pop e o f the
dangers tha t threatened them and asked for an investiga ,

tion o f the charges b rought against them : suc h investi

g at i o n the Pop e decided to institute I t cannot b e de .

t e rm i n ed whether it wa s with the Po p e s app roval or ’

against his wishes that Phili p on O ct I 3 1 3 07 h ad al l

, .
, ,
.

the Templar s in Fran ce arrested and th e ir goods seize d .

Five heads of complai nt were alleged against the

o rder ; viz pro fanation o f the cross worship o f an idol
.
, , ,

indecent rites o f initiation o mi ssion o f th e sa c ramental ,

words th e words o f conse c ration o r of fran s ub s tan

t i ati o n Ho c est corpus meum in m asses p erfor m ed by
, )
p riests belon gi ng to the order an d indulgence o f u n ,

natural lusts Two days after the arrests the p eople o f

.

Paris whose p artial ity for the Templars was fea red were
,
,

asse m bled before the royal palace and there were labored ,

with by monks and royal o fficials to turn them against ,

1 42 M Y S TE R I A

the order The King took up h i s residen c e in the Term

.
“

”
ple the Pari s h ous e o f th e o rder in whi ch was hid the
, ,

treasure o f the Grandm aster gold fl o ri n s and ,

twelve h o rs el o ad s o f silver pen ce) I t was not quite .

5 00 ye a rs later when the Temp le b ec a m e the p ri so n o f a

des c endan t o f the King I n that s ame b uilding in p res
.
,

ence of the m asters an d bachelo rs o f the universi ty th e ,

trial of th e Grand master and his b rethren was co m

m en c e d an d p ro ceeded under the direction o f I mbert
,
.

Th e p ro c edure wa s the same as in the ordinary t ri al s fo r

heresy an d wit c h craft in the cou rt o f the I nq u i sition .

Co n fession s were o btained by use o f the torture and it i s ,

impossibl e at this day to tell how much in tho s e c o n fe s

s ion s was due to the employment o f that p eculi a r metho d

o f eli c itin g truth and how mu c h if any p art was p ro mpt

, , ,

ed b y th e desire to atone for past o ffenses by truthful

(even if forc ed ) admission o f guilt .

The Pop e was not p l e ased with this turn of affairs .

H e clai m ed for himself the right to pro ceed against th e

T emp lars declared that the King was infrin ging th e
,

p rivileges o f the See o f Ro me and attrib uted the ac tio n ,

taken against th e Temp l ars to a desire to get p o ssession

‘

’
o f th e order s tre asury and t o annihilate a so ciety who s e
existen c e was a cau se o f an xiety to the King H e th e re .
,

fore p rotested against th e whole p roce eding and de

, ,

m an d e d th t the arrested Tem p lars and thei r p ro p ert y

a
shoul d b e surrendered to him as j udge of the questio ns at
i ssue Th e King re fused but h e came to an understan d
.
,

ing with the Pop e i n th e matter o f the pro se cution and ,

“
Nov 22 the Pop e by the bull P as to ral i s P rae e m i n e n
.
,
”
tia c ordered the arrest o f all t h e Templars througho ut
,

the Chri stian world The Kin g o f Engl and Edward I I

.
, .

who was Phili p s son i n law obeyed this p re c ept thou gh

’
- -
, ,
 TH E K NIG HT'S r amp a n t 1 43

he had previously expressed disbelief o f the gui lt of the

'

Tem p lars A like change o f mind was seen in Ara gon

.
.

In Cyp rus the Templ ars attempted resistan c e b ut sub ,

m i tt e d
. D enis King o f Portugal refused t o institu t e a
, ,

p ro secution against the m .

Inas m u ch as the m e asure was one th at affe cte d al l

countries the case of the Templ ars b elonged of right to
,

the Papal j uri sdiction Even Philip admitted this ; b ut

.

he mistrusted the Pop e and feared that th e Temp la rs

,

mi ght b e acquitted an d then t ak e revenge o n the King

,
.

Negoti ations w e re opened The Ki ng demanded the.

death o f the Templars but the P o p e wo ul d n ot c onsent

,

to thi s till their guilt was fully p roven ; an d again h e de

m an d e d the surrender to hi m of their p ersons and their
p o ssessions The King at last acc eded to th e deman d
.
,

for h e had need of th e Pop e s assis tan ce in p ro c u ring ’

the election of his b rother as suc c esso r to the assa ssinate d

German King Albert , .

Under the Papal j uri sdiction the trial s were c on

ducted with more lenity : to rture was no t employed B ut .

the Pop e b ec ame convin c ed o f the guilt o f the a c cused ;

till then he had b een in doubt Molay made witho ut .
,

compulsion many ve ry impo rtant admissions as did sev

,
,

eral high o ffi cials o f the order but o n sun dry p oints th e v ,

contradicted one another Nevert heless th e Pope wa s

.
,

still fir m ly of the op inion that only individual Templars

were on trial not the o rder while for the King the anni
, ,

h il ati o n o f the order was th e main thing August 8 .

,

1 3 08 t h e b ull Faciens Miseri c o rdiam ordered a p rose

“
,

c u ti o n o f the Te m plars in every c ountry o f Christendom

and on the 1 2 t h o f th e same month b y the bull Re gnan s

“
,
”
in Co e l i s a council was summoned for the year 1 3 1 0 to
,
,

d et ermine the question o f th e Tem lars Further o rdi

p .
 M Y S TE R I A

nance s of th e Pop e had to do with the su rrender o f the

p roperties o f th e order to th e Church .

M eanwhil e the Pop e had forgotten to ai d the Fre n c h

King s b rother in his pretentions to the crown of th e
’

Ro m an Empire O n th e c ontrary he f avored the elec

.
,

tion o f H enry VI I o f Luxemburg, and was glad to fi n d

.

i n him a prince who would strenuously oppose the over

weeni n g ambition o f Philip I V The ten sion between th e .

Pop e and the French King was in c reasing and the tri al s ,

of the Templars went o n sluggishly for two years more .

There was much arbitrary ill usage o f Templars Th e -

.

b ishop s to who m the Pop e had co mmitted t h e p ro s e c u

,

tion of the individua l memb ers of the order in man y ,

p laces gave loos e rein t o their an cient enmity to ward th e

Templars and freely used the torture ; n evertheless very
,
’
,

many o f the accused m ai n tai n e d th e inno cence o f their

o rder and d eclared th e p rior c o nfessions false This c an
, .

b e explained only by supp o sing that the ab uses i n th e

order did not extend to all the houses M o l ay s b e .
’

havior on hi s trial was n either firm nor di gnified ever ,

balan c ing b etween self accusation and vindication H e

-
.

was never sure of his ground sought to retard p ro ,

c e d u re used equivo c al and obscure phra se s an d c ontinu

, ,

ally protested h i s o rthodoxy ; an d the other memb ers for

t h e mo st p art acted in like manner : b ut their ex cu se i s the
hard usage they endured and M olay was not permitted to ,

complain of th at .

All t h e Te m pl ars arrested in Pari s numberin g 546 , ,

were o n th e 2 8 th o f M ay 1 3 1 0 mustered in the gard en

, ,

o f the B ishop s p ala c e and t h ere the accusa tion was read
’

t o them Six o f th e accused—three knights and three

.

—
cleri c s p rotested i n the name o f all against th e treatment
they had re c ei ve d and de m an ded the release of all
,
 TH E K N I G HTS T‘E lM P LtA R 145

Templars and arrest o f their a cc users I n vain ! D uring .

the investigation thirty six memb ers o f the order died in

-

rison at Par ts M ay 1 2 1 3 1 0 those who had retra c ted

p .
, ,

their confessions to the numb er of 54 were b u rned

, ,

alive : to these were afte rward added eight more an d at ,

Rheims nine met the same fate : they all protested th ei r -

inno cence at the supreme moment I t is worthy of note .

that the Pop e who till t hen h ad favored delay in the p ro

,

c ee d i n gs ,
was now for instant action H e sharply ré .

p roved t h e English authorities for refusing to emplo y

t h e torture ; and he did his best to acco mplish th e de
str u ction of the Templars at A vi gn e n who had taken up ,

arms to defend themselves ; b ut though defe ated they , ,

were ad j udged inno cent ; and it was the same in Castile .

I n Ge rmany where the o rder though weak in num b ers

, , ,

made a resol u te stand th e Po p e o ffered no convincing

,

proof o f the charges ; and in England too no t h ing co u ld , ,

b e p roved against the accused memb ers B ut throughout .

the greater part of Ital y the Temp lars fared as i n Fra nce ,

excep t that they were no t condemned to the st ake In .

vai n did the celebrated Raymond Lully at the Council o f ,

Vienne plead for the p res ervatio n o fthe order by

a c onsolidation o f all the milita ry orders in on e whos e ,

G ra nd master should b e that French p rince who happ en ed

to be King o f Jerusalem : for h e hop ed thu s t o conciliate
the good will o f Philip The Pope who had long b een
.
,

u rged by the King to suppress the o rder n o w made haste ,

to save the pro p erty o f the Temp lars fro m falling into
” “
secular hand s and so by the bull s Vox in Excelso and
, ,
“
Ad P ro vi d am Christi Vi c arii published April 3 and
”
,

May 2 1 3 1 2 respectively he made over to th e H o s p ital

, , ,
.

ers all the estates o f the Templars estate s i n Sp ain ex ,

c ep t e d .
 M Y ST E R I A

The unfortun ate G randmaster M olay wh o received ,

a p ittan ce o f four sous per diem to allev i ate his m isery ,

bore his imprisonment with great fortitude ; b ut M arch

11,
1 3 1 3 h e and Godfrey de Charney an o ffic ial o f th e
, ,

order having retra c ted thei r c onfe s sions were s l o wl v

, ,

burnt to death o n an island in th e Seine by o rder o f the

!

King without any j udicial pro c ess Molay it is sai d

, .
, .

' “
cite d the two murderers o f hi s b rethre n P h ilip an d “

Clem ent to appear before the j udgment s eat of Go d

,
.

They both died o ne o f colic the other in consequen c e o f

, ,

a fall from his horse eight and t h irteen month s respect

, ,

i ve l y after th e d eath o f M olay

,
Th e order was s u p .

p r e s e d everywhere exce p t in Portugal where it too k the ,

n a me
“
O rder o f Jesus Christ and continued in existen c e
”
,
.

Its Grandmaster Prin c e H enry the navigator a h u n d re d

, ,

years afterward employed its wealth in p romoting the

,

high ends o f c ivilization I n other countries the Tem .

'
l s either wandered ab o ut as fugitives or entere d the
”

p a r
,
’
o rder of H osp italers The seizure o f the orde r s estate s
.

i n France was annulled by th e bull of su pression but

p ,

Philip n ev erthele ss maintained h i s hold on the house o f

, ,

th e order in Paris an d o n th e tre asure there stored Th e

,
.

remai nder o f the p rop erty was p lundered by the nob ility
and th e Chur c h ; an d the Pop e surely was not fo rgetful o f
his o wn interest The H osp italers afte rward succeeded
.

to their rights but that did the m hardly l ess har m than
,
'

goo d for it co st them a great sum to releas e the estate s

,

o f the T emp lars fro m th e grasp o f th e robbers ; b eside s ,

many a smal l piece o f p roperty was ma de away with b y

p rin c es great lords orders chur c he s and m on as teries
, , , , .
 P AR T S E V EN TH

Th e F e m g e ri cb t e .

‘
I . C O U RT S O F
‘
J USTI CE IN TH E M I D D LE
l A GE .

The wild disorder attending the i rruptio n o f th e

Gothic n ations having sub sided society which had lo st , ,

its bearings had to organize itself an ew The first step

,
.

’
towa rd thi s end was taken whe n society s task was dis
“

tributed among innumerable fra c tional p a rts of itsel f e ach ,

fraction trying to do its own share o f th e work ; the next

step was the uniting o f all thes e fractional parts under
—
o ne religious idea that of Ch ri stianism and under o n e
political law—that o f feudalism Th e Pop e an d the Em
,

p e ro r rep resented the rel i gi o u s an d the p oliti c al ide as re

‘

s p e c t i ve l y As long as one was true to Pop e an d Emp e

.

ror was a goo d Christ i an and a good subj ect—all

was well with him an d he might in all other m atters do
, , ,

as he pleased Th e p rincip le of Justi c e was not regard e d :

.

no wrong act was punished as violating right but al ways ,

as doing harm Ev en m urder was not regarded as i n

.

fri n ge m e n t o f human right to life but simply as harm ,

do ne t o the p eople o f the murdered one I f one was .

without relativ e s his slayer went unp unished ; b ut i f

,

the murdered man l eft a family or kinsmen the murderer , ,

o n p ay ing to the m a ce rtai n sum went fo rth free Thus , .

,

the utmo st unrestraint p revaile d in the several small ag

r
g ge a ti o n s o f peo ple and t h e utmo st
, diversity b etw een
1 47
 '
1 48 U
[MY S TE REA ’

one little c om m unity and anoth e r O f b ureau c rati c cen .

,

t ral i ze d cast iro n government there was no fai ntest

,
-

foreshadow ; nor was govern m ent a function assigned to

any one b ut like th e administration o f j usti c e an ac
, , ,

quired right I n a given p rovince this o ne h ad a c quired

.

th e govern ment that one th e c l vi l and a third the crimi

,

n al j udiciary ; one was obeyed in p eace another com ,

m an d e d the p e0 p 1e in war Jurisdi c tion s were undefined .

and inextri c ably mixed up — a conse quence o f the feudal

system under which the King granted rights now to one
,

man again to another a s favors never inquiring h o w

, , ,

thes e might consist wi th rights p reviously granted to

others I n this way it b ecame p o ssible in th e M iddle
.

Age for s uch j u ristic abno rmities a s the Fe m geri ch te to

come into exi stence Th e F e m g eri c h t e resulted fro m .

the confusion exi sting in j udiciary a ffairs j ust as the ,

religious abnormity of the monasti c orders o f knights re

s u l t e d from th e ve ry oppo site condition o f things in the

Church —the exces s of regul ation Fo r the confusion (ab .

sence o f regulation ) and the excessiv e regu l ation were .

n ear akin ; the y both s p ra ng o ut o f the unrestraint o f

p rivate life in the M iddle Age which unrestraint natu ,

rally prod u ced und er th e rule of the Church a multitude

, ,

o f monasti c rules the Rul e o f St Augustin o f .

,

St B enedict o f St Colum b a
.
,
while on the
.
, ,

contrary the feebleness of th e Empire due to the j ee l

, ,

o u s y of th e Popes and the ambition an d avarice o f th e

feudal lords was fatal to an v o rganization o f the admin

,

i s t rat i ve a n d j udicial fun c tions and though th ere were ,

many codes o f law there could b e n o stan dard for d is,

t i n g u i s h i n g right an d wrong .

The cau se o f this di fferen ce o f develo p ment be twe en

State and Churc h was that th e Chur c h h a d grown from ,
 II-I '
T H ‘E F E M G E R TC
f - DE 1 49

the top downward fro m the hierarchy down to th e p eo

,

ple ; while the State on the c ontrary had grown from

, ,

b elow upw ard D uring t h e p rocess o f mi gratio n and set

.

t l e m en t ea c h nation o r horde wa s self governed p er

,
-
,

fe ct l y free and indep endent : hence the po p ular genial , , ,

o ftentimes even j o vial and humorous cast o f Teuton ic

law as c ompared with the hard p edantic ab struse au s
, , , ,

tere character o f th e Jus Romanum Roman l aw has .

o nly a; c orpus j u ri s ; Teutonic l aw has Wise S aws Juri stic ,

Proverb s Juristic D rolleries Juristic Myths (W e i s t u e m e r

, , ,

Re c h t s s p ri ch two e rt er Re ch ts s c h wo e rn k e Re ch t s s ag e n )
, ,
.

O riginall y among the Germans t h e free men them

, ,

s elve s were the court and chose their president th e Graf ,

( graf now equal s c ount) Not until the time o f Karl th e .

Great ( Charlemagn e ) did th e grafs b ecome standing o fi i ‘

c i al s and later an heredita ry order an d lo rd s p rop ri etary

, .

As the fun ctions o f govern ment we re by degrees entruste d

to fewer and ever fewer ha nds b eing transferred fro m ,

the p eople to favored feudal lords and fro m them passing ,

finally into the hand s o f an individual sovereign a quite —

natural p ro cess for while the p e0 p 1e increased i n num b er
,
'

they did not beco me better educated and therefore grew ,

ever less fitted for sel f government—s o too j udgment -

, , ,

quitting the o p en emb owered courts amid the lindens

, ,
’
with heaven s breezes whi spering among th e leaves an d ,

heaven s b lue dome overarching all withdrew b ehind

’

d ank and frowning walls from the countenance of the ,

whole p eople to a meeting of a small b en c h o f stem

j udges .

Thus gradually were the rights of t h e free m en di

m inished The free m en was less and less frequently
.

called to sit in j u dgm ent for the p resident o f the co u rt , ,

the graf was no longer an e qual b ut a great lord their

, , ,
sup e rio r who m ade up the cou rt as to h i m see m ed b est
, ,

an d who even c ared nothing for th e Emp ero r *

W estphalia was th e original ho me o f th e Fem

.

ge

ri chte and they owed their rise to th e fact tha t there the
,

royal b an (Ko en i gs b an n ) that is to say the ri ght po s , ,

se ssed by th e King alone o f conferring the grafship on ,

the grafs was still alive in mo dified for m indeed yet

, , ,

with its su b stan c e uni mp aired O wing to th e granting .

o f vari ous privileges to e c clesiastical and secul ar m ag ’

nate s the j uri sdiction o f the grafs was in ti me divi ded

up B esides there were sp ecial courts fo r freem en and
.
, ,

special c ourts fo r the hal f free an d the unfree the fo rm er -

,

courts b eing und er the free grafs and the other un d er th e ,

'

g a ug ra fa fs ( distri c t g rafs ) Now as the maj ority o f th e .

,

pop ulation were under th e gau grafs the possession o f ,

a gau gra fs h i p develop ed into s o verei gn ity while the po si

tion o f th e free grafs b e c a m e pe c uliar : the o ffi c e was o ften
sold and passed from h and to hand Th e free grafs wh o .
,

were o ften p e rsons o f littl e means in o rder to main tain ,

}

their dignity had to lean on th e King s ban or warrant

,
’
, ,

obtai na b le fro m the King alone B ut o ften th e free gra f .

ship s died out o r th ey were consolidated with gau graf ,

shi p s B ut nowhere did th ey re t ain so mu ch of th eir

‘

—
original c ha racter as in W estphal ia a geograph i c al ex
pression o f various meanings indeed b ut in general it , ,

denoted the re gi on b etw een th e Rhin e and th e W eser .

Th e term Freigraf dates fro m th e twel fth c entu ry .

W h at fi o flllo tws
i
r e ga rd i n g th e F e mg e ri ch t e is b as ed
“

on

T h eo do r I J i nld r
nie r
’
s wo rk ,
“
i i oh t e ,
D i e F ehn g x ef
"
M ii n s lt e r an d Pa

—
d e r b o rn ,
'
18 8 8
( V h a t erver .
V'
h v
m a y la e b ee n t h ’

e o ri g i n a l m e an i n g
o f th e wo r d fe m i n fem g e ri eh t
“ ” “
,
”
it i s e mo wg h i
to k n ‘o nw t a t h
in q ui va l e n t “ ”
fem -geri o h t
‘

u s ag e . it is e to e e o re t ; h en ee s ee re t

j u d g m e nlt , o r s e c re t tr i b u na l ) .
 TH EE! F E M G E R I CH TE
‘

15 1

Not only the King but the duke also h ad influen c e

o ver the free g rafs h ip s After the b reak up of the an c ient
.
-

du c hy o f Saxony eve ry p rincely land p roprietor with in

,

its territo ry was duk e o f Westp hali a ; thi s is sp ec ially

true of the Ar c h b ishop of Colo g ne an d also o f the ,

bisho p s o f Muenster O s n ab ru e ck and Minden and o f the

, ,

D uke o f S axe Lauenburg— dukes o f Westphalia all

-
,

b ut with m ore o r less limitati o n Pro b a b ly the duke was .

entitl ed to preside over any free court and to summon to ,

” “
his own tribunal the b o t d i n g the fre e grafs So too
, , .
, ,

the s t uh l h e rr (lord o f the manor) p os s e ssed the ri ght o f

p residing even when h e was no p rince b ut only a graf ;
, ,

and often he assumed that the free graf gave j udgmen t

only in hi s (th e lord s) na m e and so granted rel ea se fro m
’

the j u risdiction o f the free courts t o cities for exa m ple , , .

The free graf and his assessors the s c h o efi e n ( a lower ,

’

grade o f j udges ) afte rward called frei s c h o e ffe n c onsti

, ,

t u te d the freigeri c ht ( free c ourt ) afterward kn o wn as f ern

gericht These o ffi c es might fall to any free m an —and
,

any one was reckoned a free ma n wh o h ad his o wn “

s m oke i e a ho use o f his o wn

,
”
. .
, .

I n the latter half o f the i 4th and the fi rst hal f o f th e

1 sth centu ry th e empe rors bestowed on the ar c hbi shop s

of Cologn e as dukes of Westphalia and lieuten ants o f th e

,

Emperor the right o f investiture o f all free grafs and

,

supervision o f them all over W estphali a A c h apte r o f .

free grafs was held yearly at Arn s b erg and hen c e the ,

Arn sberg tri b unal o b tained the fi rst rank .

As th e free grafs hel d their investiture fro m th e king ,

th ey loo ked on themselves as king s o ffi c ers and littl e ’

by little went on extendin g th eir j uri sdicti on over th e

whole e m pire—a desi gn favored b y the co nfusio n rei gn
ing ev erywh ere and even app roved b y th e e m perors
,
 MY i
‘
l '
S TE RJIA
'

th emselves At last th e free grafs b egan to think that th ey

.

were higher than the emp eror an d had n o need o f his ,

meddling : this arro gan c e was at its height i n th e re i gn

o f S i g mun d and it was still to b e se en under Frede ric
,

VI I ; i n fact Frederi c for h aving taken step s to p unish

.
, ,

some insubo rdinate free grafs was su m moned by free ,

grafs to stan d trial .

So me o f th e emperors did ind eed s et up free graf , ,

trib unals o utside th e limits o f VVe s tp hial i a ; but these n ever

p rospered I n th e 1 sth century it wa s an axiom that
.
'

such co u rts c ould exist only in Westph alia o r as th e say , ,

“ ”
ing was o n red earth a phrase that do es not o ccur
, ,

p rior to 1 490 an d th e sen se o f which i s no t quite clear ;

,
.

fo r neither i s th e soil of all Westp halia red nor i s red soil ,

con fi ned to Westphalia : an d the same criti c ism may b e

“ ”
made if red earth b e taken fo r b lo o d stai n e d earth
“ ”
-
.

2 TH E
. S E CR E T TR I B U N A L .

“
Th e rly fre e co urt s were i n a c e rtain: s en s e pri
ea

vate courts inasmu c h as they were not op en to al l like

”
,

th e courts o f th e gau grafs (or j ud ges o f distri cts) The .

“ ”
a ss o ciate j udges ( Fre i s ch o e ffen ) were c alled wissende
(w i s e m en knowin
,
g ones ) which in old times meant, , ,
“
j udges .
”
Th e p rivate trib unal o f th e Feme b e c ame
“
.
”

by degrees a se c ret tri b unal about th e middl e o f the 1 4th

“ ”

century as the free grafs b e c ame more c ons cious of their

,

am b itious ai m s Th e S ch o e ffen were now required to

.

bind themselve s b y o ath to ob se rve se c re c y : th e one who

p roved false to his oath was fi rst to hav e his tongu e
p lucked out and th en he
,
was to b e h an ged either three ,

o r seven feet higher th an a t hief The p en alty was ex . .

a c ted ve ry rare ly an d pro b ab ly nev er th e fi rs t it em o f it

,
 TH E I F E M GE R DC H TE
‘
153

The obligati on o f se c recy extended ove r al l the pro ceed

ings of the se c ret c ou rts even their letters and summo nse s
,
.

E ti t the m o st impo rtant se c ret was t e c o un te rs i gn by

h -
,

means of which the initi ated reco gni z ed ea c h other Thi s .

was made up o f four words (taken from the o ath ) Sto ck , ,

Stein Gras Grein ; and as the wo rd s were p ronounced

, ,
’
one l aid his right hand on the others left sho ulder Poetry .

and romance have made the Feme co urts sit in s ub te r

ran ean cham b ers at night the fa c es o f t h e j udges m asked
, ,
.

The fact is that th e trib unals o f th e Feme were set up at

t h e a c ie nt seats o f the free tribun al s and o f suc h places
n ,

there were in Westphali a more than a hun d re d ; an d the

trials were alway s held in the op e n air in b road daylight ,
.

Wh eth er i n certain c ases they were also p ubli c so that ,

any on e might b e p resent i s not known . I n all cases .

where testimony was taken th e pro ceedin gs were se c ret ;

who ever willingly or unwillingly was present unb i d den at
the secret deliberations wa s straightway hanged fro m the
n earest tree .

Ve ry remarka b le was the universal reco gnition

throughout Germany of the powe r o f the F e m ge ri c h te I n .

1 3 8 7 th e most distin guished p eople of Cologne w e re

“ ”
wissende ; about 1 420 the Rhinela nd wa s full o f wi s
sende belonging to every grade in so c iety ; a n d so on after
the sam e might b e said of Bavaria Tyrol Switzerland , , ,

S uab i a Franconia Saxony Prussia

, ,
Eve ry manor lord
,
.

and every fre e city needed the advice o f wissende Princes .

and cities h ad thei r j udges admitted as s ch o effe n ; ar c h

b ishop s and prin c es even the E mp eror Sigmund were
, ,

initiated : in the middle o f th e 1 sth centu ry there m ust

have b een m ore than frei s ch o e ffen in th e e m pire .

To b e initiated b eca m e a c raze a fad ; the native West

,

p h a l i an s were ama z ed at the folly o f the i r southern and .

easte rn c ou ntry m en .
 M Y ST E R I A
‘
‘

And the long ar m o f the Fe m geri c ht j uri sdicti o n

reached as far as th e host o f wi ssende : the lo c alities i n
which th e a c tivity o f the s e c ret tri b unal s was m anifested
were s c attered all ov er the emp ire ; in fact the p ro c eedin gs ,

o f th ese c ourts which a ffected W estphalia itsel f b e c am e

a ve ry s m all fraction of the whole .

B ut with th e sp read of the Fe m e j urisd i c tio n aro s e

opposition to the sa m e Th ere were seen fai nt b e gi n n ings
.

of oppo sition even in the early p art of the 1 4th c entury ,

when B re m en de c ided not to al low m e mb ers o f the Fe m e

courts to reside within its j urisdi c tion ; to ward the clo se
o f that c entury other c iti es took more e ffe c tive m ea sures ,

and in the i 5th were even fo rm ed lea gues of cities for

self defen se against the en c roa ch ments o f th e Fe m e
-
.

B runswi c k app ealed t o the Pop e and the Emp ero r an d ,

Hi ldeshe i m and Erfurt to th e Coun c il o f B asel I n th e .

“

middle o f the 1 5th c entury several c ities e spec ially in ,

Southern G er m any and in H olland were freed fro m th e ,

j uri sd iction o f the se c ret c ourts by the su preme e cc l e s i

as ti ca l an d c ivil authorities Th en the duk e s of B avaria
.

an d o f S ax o n v fo rbade their subj ects laying c omplai nts i n ,

the W es tp h al i an c ourts and some c ities p unishe d th at o i

,

fen s e with death i m p ri s onment or b an i s h m ent

, ,
.

A Fe m e c ourt c onsi sted of a free raf an d at l ea s t

l
g ;

seven s ch o e ffen The graf was require d to b e a free b orn

.
'

We s tp h al i an o f stainless reputation wh atever his station in

,

life fo r p easants were o ften cho sen t o b e grafs

,
Th e .

s c h o effe n al so had to b e freemen b o rn an d i f not o f W est ,

ph alian b irth were required to p resent p roo fs o f their

,

fitness There was a fee for admissio n t o th e Fe m e As

.
.
.

time we nt on th e examination o f appli can ts b e cam e l es s

and les s stri c t an d o ften very questionable charac ters
, ,

e ven s erfs and men a cc u s ed o f c ri m es w ere ad mi tted z

l s uc h
,
 T H lE F E M G E R I 'C H T E 1 55
‘

admissions were illegal and the men c ho sen under such

,

circ u m stan c es were c alled n o ts ch o e ffen ( m akeshift s ch o e f

fen )
.

The free graf sat at a j udgm en t b oard , on wh i c h l ay a -

n ake d sword an d a rope as sy mb ol s o f ave n gin g j u s tice ,

and the s c h o e ffe n took o ath o n th ese instru ments E a c h .

free graf and each s c h o eft e o f a given c ourt was required

’

not only to b e p resent at a trial b ut to take p art in pro ,

n o u n c i n g s enten c e When the tri al was o n e o f sp e cial

.

im p ortan c e several hundred s c h o effen wo uld b e in at

tendan c e .

Th e F e m ge ri ch te had their sp e c i al c o d e s an d statutes ,

whi c h were fro m time to ti m e amen de d I n the se the .

competen ce o f the courts was defined an d thi s had to do ,

!With matters p urely c riminal at least so far as th e tri als

,

were held in secret The c ri m e s of whi c h the Fe m ge ri ch t e

t ook cognizan c e —ve m ewr o g i ge punkte (po ints fo r femi c
.

an i m ad ve rs i o n ) —
f were a cc ording t o th e list drawn up at
,

Do rtmun d in 1 43 0 as follows : I rob b ery an d ac t s o f

, ,

violence against ecclesiastics or c hurch es ; 2 lar c eny ; ,

3,
ro b b ery o f a wo man in child b ed or o f a dyin g p erso n ;
4, plundering the dead ; 5 arson an d murder
,
:

6 t re ac h e fy ; 7 b etrayal of th e Feme ; 8 rap e ; 9 fo rgery

,
-
, , ,

o f mone y o r of titl e to p roperty ; 1 0 ro bb e ry on th e i m ,

perial highway ; 1 1 perj ury and p erfi d y ; 1 2 refusal to ap

, , ,

pear i n court on su m mons Apo stasy fro m th e Chri stian

.

fait h was p ut at the h ea d o f the list in an assembly held

at Arn sberg 1 43 7 and in 1 490 h eresy an d wit c h c raft were
,

add e d For the pers on f o und guilty there was b ut one

. .

p un i shment death and only on e m anner of death b y th e

, , ,

re pe. Thi s penalty c ould b e infli cted without sen ten ce

if the o ffen der were taken in the act o r if h e c o nfessed ,

gui lt o r if there were ey ewitne s s es o f th e cri m e

, .
 M Y S T'
E-RIA ‘

That among the o ffenses p unishab le b y th e F eme

h eresy and witchcraft held almo st th e first place shows tha t
thes e tri b unal s were no obj e c t o f appre hen sio n to th e c c
c l e s i as t i c al p ower
. Thi s s e c ret associat ion th erefo re dif
, ,

fere d fro m that o f the Templars as also fro m tha t o f th e

,

Ston emasons ( which will b e next c onsidered ) especially in

this that th e Feme was no l eagu e o f I lluminati b ut that
, ,

th eir sp e cial ty was opp osition t o th e l aw o f the stronger

and to the rul e o f p etty states and th at their ai m was t o
,

uphold an d ex aggerate antiquated j udicial institutio ns .

The p ro cedure o f th e Fem ge ri c h te was entirely in ac

cord with the p rinciple o i ancient Teutoni c law that ,
“
where no complainant app ears neither is there any ,
”
j udge It was not the inquisito rial court p ro cedure
.

—
o f the 1 6th 1 9 th c enturi es in which t h e j udge: mad e i n
,

ve s ti gat i o n o n his own a cc ount b ut a pro c edure founded

,

entirely i n the p ra cti c e of civil courts an d one that agreed

,

well with th e independent sp irit o f the M i dd l e A ge and ,

the view that then prevailed that law was a m atter o f p er

s onal rights .

The free tri b unals took up th e c omp l aint fro m what

e ver quarter it came . All s c h o e ffen too were under o b
, ,

li gation to b ring to the attentio n o f th e free courts and ,

to pro se c ute all doings co ming under the animadversion

o f the Fe m e H ence were a s c h o e ffe to give informatio n
.

regarding such o ffen ses to any oth er c ourt h e was li abl e ,

to b e hanged ; and the same fate b e fel the one who hav ,

ing been entrusted with a bill o f a cc us ation sho uld op en ,

th e sa m e and b etray its contents A cc usations wer e not

.

entertain ed unless wh en sub mitted b y wi ssende The ac .

euser h ad to stan d b etw ixt two fellow s ch o e ffen his sp on ,

sors in fro n t o f th e tri b un al in kn eelin g po sture

,
.

I n eve ry c as e the fi r s t thing done was to d e c ide

 TH E E E M GE R I C H TE
'
15 7

whether the crime was one meet for animadversion by the

Feme Tha t decided the a cc used wa s su mm oned to ap
.
,

p ear ,
i f he was a wissender before the secret tri,
b unal if ,

not a wi ssender before th e open c ourt The fi rst su m

,
.

mo ns to a wissender to app ear b efore the se c ret tribunal

was dra wn up i n writing by two s ch o effen an d allowed ,

the accused a delay of six weeks and three days I f h e .

did not ob ey the sum m ons then four s ch e e ffen sum m oned
,

him in person ; and this proving ine ffectual six s ch o e ffe n ,

and on e free graf repeated the summon s which ,

“
now was called the war nin g Th e delay allowed .

was the sam e as at first I f the a cc used was a .

free graf the number o f s ch o effe n employed in ea c h

o f th e thre e p ro cesses o f s u m m e n i n g was 7 1 4 an d ,

21 ,
resp ectively and of free grafs 2 4 and 7
, ,
.

The s ch o e ffe on re c eiving the summ o ns c ould app ear at

, ,

any ti m e within th e three delays before the free c ourt and

d emand a statem ent of the charge s and the na m es o f the
ac cusers ; then he might on h i s sword swear to hi s inno
’

c ence and obtain his freedom ; b ut h e was l iable to b e

,

sum m oned again O utsiders were summoned on c e only

.
,

and usually b v on l y on e s ch o e ffe When the w he reab out s .

of an accu sed p erson was unknown four su mm onses were ,

p r epared and these were posted i n four pla c e s where he

,

might po ssi b l y b e found I f the a cc use d was o n e who i n

.

S p ired fear the su m mons might in the night time b e

,

posted or left at the gate o f the castle o r o f the c ity ih ,

w hich he lived In such cases the s c h o e ffen wal ked o r

.

rode up b efore the gate ha c ked o ff th e c ross b e am thre e

,

chip s which they kept put a penny o f the realm in the

, ,

notch affi xed the sum m on s and c ried o ut to th e c astel

, ,

lan or the b urgomaster We have stuck a king s b rief in

,
“ ’

t he n o t ch and tak en th e pro o f with us : s ay yo u to h i m

 M Y S T E RILA

that i s in the c a s tle that he m ust on his app o inted d ay

p resent hi m self before th e free trib unal on behalf o f high ,

est l aw an d the Emperor s ban When th e oppo sitio n ’

.

to th e Fe m g eri c h te b egan to gain force the su mm o ners ,

were in greater p eril o ften than the sum m oned : o fte n the y
lost their lives .

The day o f the trial having arrived i f the a cc user ,

was not o n hand th e a cc used was disch arged B ut if th e .

accuse d failed to app ear th e a c cusation was repeated and ,

testimony taken The free graf then thri c e called th e ac

.

c u s ed by name and asked i f any one was there as his at

,

to rn ey I f there was no app earance o f th e a cc used th e ac

.
,

euser c oul d demand j udgm ent after a s e e n n i gh t

“ ”
In
’
.

making this demand h e kn el t laid two fingers o f the right

,
'

hand on hi s naked s wo rd a ffi r m ed the guilt of the a cc used , ,

and six s ch o e ffen as his sp onsors m aintai ned the truth

, ,

o f what h e swore I f the verdi c t was again st the acc used

.
,

the fre e graf aro se and outlawed the a cc use d in wo rds

, ,

like th ese : The a c cused ( nam e and surname) I ex c ept

“

fro m the p ea c e th e laws and the freedom (of h e em

,
“
t .

pire ) as the same have b een stablished and de c reed by

popes and emperors ; and I cast him down an d plac e h i m
.

in utt erm ost un quiet and disgrace and make him i l l e gi ti ,

m at e b a n n ed outside t h e p eace dishonored in se c ure

, , , , ,

lovel es s ; an d I do outlaw hi m ac co rding to the senten c e

o f the secret tri b unal and d eV o te his n e c k to the rop e
, ,

hi s car c ass to the birds and b easts

. to dev o ur ; and I
c om mend his soul to th e p ower of Go d in h eaven ; and
hi s fi e fs and good s I give up to the lord s o f whom th e fi e fs
are held a nd I make his wife a wi do w and h i s c h ildren
:

o rphan s Then the fre e graf threw a twi sted ce rd o ut

.

over the b ounds o f th e c ourt th e s ch o effen spat out an d ,

.
,

th e n a m e o f th e o utlaw was wri tten i n th e b o o k o f the

 T H E F E MG E R I C H TE
‘
15 9

conde m n ed A m ong the pe rsons thus c onde m ned were

.

n u mbered so me m en o f high station as the dukes H enry ,

and Louis o f B avari a John bishop o f Wurtzb urg , ,

and others All free gr afs an d s ch o effen were he n c eforth

.

under obligatio n to arrest and to execute senten c e upon

the outl aw ( but three me m bers o f the Feme were re
quired ) ; and exe c uting senten c e m eant h angin g th e c ul
prit fro m the nearest tree O ften the relatives of exe c ut ed
.

o utlaws o f th e Feme accu sed the executioners in the fre e

courts as assassins and the court could outlaw its o wn
,

m inisters for c arrying out its o wn decrees M an y we re .

the ab uses that arose assassinati on ) o f inno c ent p er so ns

, ,

for example Murderers too pretended to b e s ch o e ffe n

.
, ,

and h i gh wayfn en robb ed under p retens e of se questering

the prop erty o f p er s ons c onde m n ed b y j udgm en t o f the
Feme .

I f ever th e c onde m ned b eing a wissender and no t

, ,

having overstayed the s e en n i gh t o f gra c e app e ared in

’

c ourt with six compurgators he was s et free ; b ut i f he

con fessed his guilt or was convicted he was exe c uted
, ,

fort h with in the usual way The b an o f th e Feme c ould

.

never b e lifted ; b ut the num b er o f death sentences ac tu

ally carried out was says Lind ner so very small tha t o n e
'

, ,

m ight readily allow the Feme s decree o f o utl awry to b e ’

”
pronounced upo n him Pop e Nicolas V in 1 452 c o n
. .

d e mn ed the capital exe c utions do ne by th e Fe m e .

I f a m an under sentence o f death sh ould b e p roved

innocent b e fo reh e fell into the hand s o f th e exe cu tioners ,

he was if a wi ssender b rought b efore th e c ourt wi th a

, , ,

rop e around his neck we aring white gloves carryi n g a

, ,

green c ro ss and attended b y two s ch o e ffen ; fallin g on

,

his knees b efore the free graf h e pl eaded for m er c y The .

free graf ta king hi m b y the hand b ade hi m ri se re m oved

, , ,
 Fe m e s j udgment)
’
.

Many o f the co nde m ned una b l e to pro c ure th e ent ,

fe m un g ventured to app eal to th e Emperor t h e c amera

, , ,

the P o p e o r a Church Council

, B ut the F e m ge ri ch te .

never recognized su c h app eal s and p rotested strongly to ,

the Emp eror agai n st th e m They regarded the con .

“
dem med as dead an d said that no on e had the right to
,
”
awaken th e de ad The Emp eror Sigmund could think o f
.

n o m ean s o f saving a man under condemnation e x cept ,

by taki n g h i m into his o wn servi c e for th e Fe m geri ch te ,

did not c are to tak e m easure s against o ffi c i al s o f th e

Kaiser and the empire Women too as well as aged .
, ,

m en an d children were excepted from the cogni z an c e

,
“
o f the Fem e
.
also i n theory Jews for J ews wer e ser
, , , ,

vants of the Emp eror s b edch am b er ecclesiasti c s also

’
, ,

for they could in the M iddle Age b e tri ed only in the

s piritual c o urts ; but in the 1 5th century th e Feme dis
'
re g arded these p ro vi sions , an d su m mo n e d b oth J e ws
an d e cc lesiasti c s .

3 . TH E E N D O F TH E P M .

B ut th e I nitiates o f the Red Ea rth leag u e m et th e

fat e th at ove rtakes al l m ove m ents that la g b ehind th e
ti me s
. The Fe m e did by n o mean s render in th e days
o f fau stre ch t (fi s t right th e rule o f the stronger) s o
“ ”
-
,

great s e rvi c es as it has b een c redited with : never was

 TH E
I E E M GE R I O H T E
‘ ‘
161

the insecurity o f li fe and p rope rty s o great as when th e

Fe m g e ri c h t e were mo st flourishing I f th e extension o f .

the Feme beyon d th e borders o f Westp h al ia was a wrong ,

that wrong b ecame aggravated through the excessive

secrecy o f the tribunals Th e Feme degenerated steadily
.
,

and the res p ect in which it was held de c lined in equal

degree The free grafs forgot the fair pro mise o f their
.

original institution —that their function wa s to prote c t i h

nocence against th e machination s o f b ad men They .
,

and esp ecially the p residents o f courts enri ched them ,

selves with fe e s for admission o f n ew me mb ers with ,

costs o f c ourt with fi nes and fees and eve n with moneys
, ,
:

got by extort ion and opp ression They delayed tri al s .

,

condemned inno c ent persons overstepped the limits of

,

their j urisdic tion so as to c ondemn to death th e entire

male population (over 1 8 years) o f a town fo r not ob ey ,

i n g a summ o ns Th e oppo siti o n to th e Fe m ge ri c h te

.

cul m inated in the decree of the Em p eror M aximili an I .

c reating t h e supre me c ourt of j udicature ( kam m er

geri cht) which l eft no further excus e fo r protecting t h e
,

free c ourts The appli c ations for admission t o the Fe m e

.

soon grew less and at last c eased The princes c hanged

, .

the free courts into ordinary trib unals or ab olishe d ,

the m At the end o f the 1 6th century a capital e x e c u

.
~

tion by a Femgericht was a thing unknown ; at the e n d

of the 1 7th these courts had n e arly all disappear ed B u t .

even when Ne s tp h al i a was a Napo leoni c kingdo m there

‘

were still living some s ch o effen and not till th e deca d e

,
“
1 88 0 90 did the last free
-
raf disapp e ar taking with him
g ,

to the grave th e secret o f the c o unt ersign ”

The exist .

en c e o f the Feme is still commemorated b y the sto ne

j udgment seats under the lindens ; and th e b ran c he s over ~

he ad are still whis p ering the sto ry o f the redou b table

Wissende of the Red Ea rth c o untry .
 S t o n em a s o n s L o d g es ’
of th e M i d d I e A ge s .

1 . M E D I E V A L A RC HIT E C T URE .

W e have already noted as a prom i nent c h ara cteristi c

o fthe M iddle Age this that freedom o f action except
, ,

so far as it interfered with the interests o f the cl er gy or

the nobles was left unrestri cted and that indi vidual s
,

for m ed so cial un i on s for the exercise o f it Thus we .

have seen these two dominan t classes uniting to fo rm

association s whi c h fi n al l v were c ro wned by th e i n s ti tu
'

tion o f th e military orders B ut the medieval world had

.

not followed the a i ts of p eace very long after th e st o rmy

times o f th e barb aria n invasion s b efore it b ecame c on
,

scious o f a need n o t only o f a union o f sword sm en an d

p enmen b ut also and still more o f a union o f handicrafts
,

me n True the M iddle Age could not rise to such an

.
,

intell e c tua l height as would enable it to see that work is

mo re to b e hono red than indolen c e pea c e than w , ar :

hence the worker had to take a sub ordinate place Of .

the a gri cultural laborer this is true without any res e rva
ti o n : b ut the artisan was more favo ra b ly situated as soo n
’

as the c ities had b egun to develop

:

B ut the p rogress made b y the artisans was due to

th eir union in corp oration s or gilds The c o n s ti tu
.

”
tion s o f the t rad e gil d s derive partly fro m t h e collegia
o f arti san s in anc ien t Rom e and p art ly fro m the m o
 TH E ST O N E M A S O N S 163

n asti c orders The collegi a h ad se c ret rites mysteries

.
, ,

but o f these we h ave no reliable information ; and it is

certai n that the medieval gilds had their myst eri es too ,
.

O f not all the gilds is this true ; in some o f the m the

secret c eremonial c onsisted only of p asswords an d
co u ntersign s by which craftsmen re c o gnized their fel ~

lows Th e mo st elaborate o f thes e mysteries was that o f

.

the Sto n e masons And the rea s on if this is obvious for

.
,

of all trad es that of the builder not only makes m o s t de

man ds on the thinking faculty involve s most det ails i s , ,

the first to require n e w methods o f facilitating op era

”
tions new wrinkle s an d these easily are made trade
,
.

secrets : b es i des as builders o f temples the masons a c

, ,

q uired a sa cred and m ystical ch aracter .

After the great m igration s the mason s trade had ’

its home in th e monasterie s As long as ar c hite c ture or .

the builder s art was thus under monasti c guidan c e it

’

a ffected the Romanic style— simp le c olumns roun ded ,

arches squat towers ; but when the monks fo rsoo k art

,

and scien c e i n th e l 1 th and 1 2 th centuries the c rafts

,
'
,

men no longer saw why they shoul d se rv e under the di

rection of men who had no taste for anything but wine ,

the c h ase an d war And so there aro s e unions o f mason s

, .

outside of the monasteries esp ecially in the citie s an d , ,

h enceforth the monasti c churche s were inferi o r to the

city chur c h es in size and sp lendor The c h ange in the .

circumstan c es of the builders unio ns which were now ’

,

sel f controlled was seen in the develo pment o f a new

-
,

styl e . Instead of the single co lumns rose clustere d col

umus sym bo l of free union and o f the stren gth that
, ,

c omes o f harm onious a ction b etween e quals ; in the pl ac e

o f rounded arches p ointed ones to sho w that th e force s
, ,

that con spired to raise the stru c ture did not s ac ri fic e their
 M Y S TE R I A

several individualities but freely contributed ea ch i t s

,

share towa rd th e attain ment o f the end ; in p lace of s quat ,

close towers, tall sp ires asp irin g to i n fi n i tu d e and op en ,

on all sides as much a s to say H ere we stand free and

, ,

o p en acknowled gi ng no laws b ut tho s e of

,

Th en came dec oratio n of the windo w arches whi c h ,

showed a di fferent design in each t h us ente ring a p ro test ,

against all stereotyp ed uniformity This was the true .

Germanic or Gothi c architecture the tri umph o f the free ,

Teutonic sp i rit which favors the unhindered d evelop

,

m en t a n d the unrestri ct e d indep enden c e o f individual

genius It wa s also th e expression of mysticism with
.
,

innumerable spirel ets strivin g heavenward to fi n d the '

D ivine H ence th e Gothic style has so mewhat o f gloom

.

and m el an c h o l v in i t s vast arches and narrow windows .

It invites the free spontaneous spirit o f man to soun d the

d ep ths o f hi s own nature and so is as adverse to o b
,

t ru s i ve dogmati sm as to reckless investigatio n and i l .

l umi n s m which disturb prej udices

,
H enc e as the .

Romanic style i s th e ar c hitecture o f the popedom so i s ,

the Gothic th at o f free churc h life ; and the n the archi

te c ture o f illumini s m foll o wed a s th e style o f the Renai s
s au ce .

2. TH E ST O N E M A SO NS ’
LO D GE S O F GE R M A N Y .

Th e meeting places o f th e masons unions in th e ’

c ities were the b oard huts that stoo d on the site o f

c h ur c h e s in p ro cess o f con str uc tion a ffo rdi n g sh elter to ,

th e mason s o r ston e cutt e rs while at work Th e se huts .

,

“ ”
o r lodge s we re at an early p erio d leagu e d togeth er
, ,

and the m embers of the leagu es in memory o f thei r ,

formerly havin g b ee n inmates o f monaste ries called o n e

‘
'
,

another B rother and thei r union s B rotherhood s ; th ey

,
 TH E ST O N E M A S O NS 1 65

a lso b estowed o n their chief o fficers su ch to k en s o f re

s pect as are found in the c leri cal e p ithets
”
reverend and
“
worshipful . The date o f the fo rm ation o f this league
cannot b e determined It a p p ears to have b een in full
.

swing in the I 3 th century an d the credit o f its definitive

,

organization i s usuall y g i ven to Albert t he Great Co unt ,

of Bollstadt a celeb rated D ominican friar (b 1 200 d

,
.
,
.

Albert lived nearly all his life i n Colo gne an d ,

therefore the famou s Cathedral of Cologne is to b e re

’
garded as the cradle o f the great league o f stonemasons
lodges .

For the government o f this league an assembly o f

“
delegates fro m th e lodges which came together in ch ap
,
”
ter ( another remin i scence o f the monas ti c origin of
th ese unions) at Ratisbon in 1 4 59 drew up a trade con ,

s t i t u t i o n entitled O rdnung und Vereinigung der gem ~

”
'

einen Bruderschaft des Steinwerks und der Steinmetze n

Regulatio n nd Combination o f th e gen r l brother
( a e a

hood o f stonework and stonemasons) : it was revi sed and

amended at B asel in 1 49 7 an d at Strasb urg 1 498,
Fro m .

this and other ancient do cuments relatin g to th e o rgani

z at i o n o f the brotherhoo d we gather that th e B rethren

were classed as M a sters Parl eyers an d Co m rade s

,
“

( meister p
,
arl i re r gesellen
, ) and to these
,
wer e added ,

though not as brethren yet as dep endents H elpers

, , ,

that i s apprentices At the head of a lodge stood the

, .

M aster o f Works o r M aster B uilder

, The masters o f
-
.

the three lodges at Strasburg Colo gne an d Vienn a wer e ,

the Chief Judges of th e league and h e of Strasburg h eld ,

the foremost rank among thes e To the j udicial distri ct .

o f Strasb urg belonged t h e left b an k o f the Rhine down

to th e Mo selle and on th e right ban k S u ab i a Franconia
, , ,

H es s e ; to th e district o f Cologn e b elonged the region o n

 M Y S TE R I A ’

the other side o f the M oselle ; and to that o f Vienna ,

Austria H unga ry I taly Swi tzerlan d stoo d apart under

, ,
.

a separate m aster who h ad his s eat at Be rne ; Zu ri c h

,

afterward su cc eeded to the place o f B erne Th e m ason s .

o f Northern G ermany on the right bank o f th e Rhine

were only nomin ally me m
,

( Thuringia Saxony , , b e rs
of the league : as matter o f fact they were su b ordin ate
to non e o f these lodges b ut they adopted a spe c i al o r,
“

”
der for themselves at To rgau in 1 462 I n thes e regula .

tions we fin d m an y striking evidences o f th e sturdy good

sense o f the m asons For examp le they were fo rb id
.
,

den to disp arage d e c eased masters an d their works ; al so

to teach others their art fo r money for they ought t o ,

deal wi th e ach oth e r as friends ; one m aster was no t to

exp el a fellowcra ft ; to do so h e must not onl y take
c ounsel with t wo other masters b ut als o a maj ori ty o f ,

t h e fe l l o w c rafts m ust app ro ve ; differen c es b etween m as

ters should b e settled by arbitrators c hosen fro m m e m ~

b ers of the l e ague .

I n the b roth erhoods b rotherly c o m radeship pl ayed

an important p art Meetings were held monthly and
'

,
.

th e b usiness ended wi th a f east Ea ch Gene ral l odge .

yearl y held a gran d asse mbly ; an d th e f e stivals o f Saint

J ohn th e Baptist and of the s o c alled Four Crown ed
,
“
-

O nes were holidays for the l eague Ea ch meeting o f a

”
,
.

lodge was open ed an d c lo sed with questions an d an

s we rs o f the master and th e comrad e s To th e j ourn ey .

m an a s soon as he b e gan to travel were communi c ated

, ,

—
th e secret sign s of the b rotherho od password s grip , ,

et c With these h e identified himself as a brother m aso n

.

wherever h e went an d so had the right to learn the trade

,

gratis .O n co ming to a hut where stone cutting wa s -

going on h e fi rst shut the door so as to kno c k on it

, ,
 TH E ST O N E M A S O N S 1 67

after the masonic fashion ; then asked Are G erman ,

masons at work here ? Fo rthwith th e c omrades m ade

”

search through the hut shut the doors an d ranged them , ,

selves i n a right angle ; the visitor pla c ed h i s feet at righ t

”
angles saying God bless the worthy mason s ; t o which
, ,

“ ”
the answer was Go d thank the worthy masons and ,

so on q uestion s an d answers many among them

, ,

“ ” “
these : Who sent you forth ? My ho nore d mas
’
ter hono red sureties and th e whole honored masons
, ,
“ ” “
lodge at X What for ? For dis ci p lin e and righ t b e
.

havior ” “
W at is discipline and ri ght b ehav i o r
h .
?” “
Th e
”
usages of the craft and its customs .

O f the rites of initiation in those times we know

nothing : what Fallou has on that head regarding the
usages o f the G er m a n stonemason s i s simply borrowe d
’
fro m the Freem asons ritual o f the p resent time I t i s .

’
highly p robable that in the medieval mason s lo dges the
technical de tails of the craft and its sec rets p l ave d th e
chief p art in the c ere m onies o f initiation The medieval .

stone masons also e m ployed a s sym b ols o f their c raft the

hammer t h e c ir c le th e s quare etc also mysti c fi gures
, . , .
, ,

e g the flaming star (whi c h was th e Pythagorean p enta

gram or the magic hexagram—t wo triangles lai d across
. .
,

each other) the two pillars of Solomon s temp le wine ’

‘

, ,

skins e ars of corn interlace d cords etc

, ,
The only , .

other po int o f any c onsequence o f which we have c er

tain ty i s that th e po stulant swore to ob se rve s e c recy .

B ut th ere i s no doubt th at the drinkin g usages as handed

down to u s are authenti c Fo r example th e glass was .
,

never to b e han ded to the ban q ueter but set on th e table ,

before him ; th en h e must not to u c h it save wi th the

—
,

right h and covered with a white glove o r a white nap

kin wh e n a sp e c ial toas t i s drunk
,
.
 M Y S TE R I A ’

The masons broth erhoods were a distin c tly Chri s

’

“
tian institution : the members were required by the Or
”
dinan c es to co mp l y with all th e us age s o f the Ch ur c h .

This was a survival fro m the time when th e lodges had

their origin in monaste ri es Th e se c ts th at arose o n
.

eve ry side despite bloody p ersecutions an d the i l l um in ,

i sm spread abro ad b y them contributed to b ri ng a b out

,

a c h an ge in th e spirit o f the masons which was noticeable

in the i 4th and 1 5th c enturies : m any p erhap s a ma ,

j o ri ty
, o f th e m acquire d a s p iri t o f o p p osit i on to Roman
ecclesias t i cism and it was very plainly m anifested in their
,

sculpture M ore b itter satire cannot b e imagine d than

.

they emp loyed ; and what is mo st significant is that it

fo u nd expression in the c hurche s themselves Th us in .

a rep re sentatio n o f th e Last Judgment in the B ern e min ,

ster a p ope wearing a glittering ti ara o f gold is s een

tum b li n g headlong i n to H ell ; and in the vesti b ule th e
Wise and th e Foolish V irgin s are shown keeping vigil 1

b ut th e foolish on e s we ar c ardinal s hat s bi sh op s mitres ’

,
’

and priests c ap s The D ob eran Church in M ec k l e n

’
.

b urg shows a mill i n which church dogmas are ground

o ut. At Strasb urg was s een a p ro cession of all manner
o f bea s ts with blazing torc he s and an as s p erfo rming
the m ass ; at B randen b urg wa s s h o wru a fox p rea c hing
to a flo ck o f geese et c , .

I lluminism is t h e foe o f knighthood an d eccl e s i

as ti c i s m
,
fo r illumini sm kno ws no p rivilege o f b i rth or
-

o f rank o r of vo cation H ence in so far as such bo dies

.
,

a s the Templars an d Stonemasons favored illuminism ,

they undermined th e institutions to whic h they owed th eir

existen c e and so were wo rking fo r their own extinctio n
,
.

The down fall o f th e Stone masons b rotherhoo d had its

’

c auses even in the age b efore the Reform ation i n that ,

 TH E S T O N E M A S O NS 1 69

th ere was no la c k now o f church es and tha t hardly an y ,

new churches were erect ed What the relation was of .

the lodges to the Re form ation we shall see later o n The .

savageries o f the 1 6th and 1 7th c enturi es p arti c ul arly th e ,

’
Th irty Y ears War dealt a severe blow at the building
-
,
’
craft ; but the deathblow to the Stonemasons league ’

was the treachero us seizure of the seat o f th e prin c ip al

lodge Strasburg by Louis X IV Naturally the G er m an
, , .
,

p rinces interdicted communication o f their subj e cts w i th

foreign asso ciations and o f c ourse with the p rinc ip al
, , ,

lodge in S tras b urg 1 707 And as the dis cords of th e

,
.

Ge rm an m as o n s an d their weakness prevented th e m fro m

‘

instituting a new h ead lodg e the E m p ero r at one stroke

‘

did a way wi th all lodges p rin c ipal an d sub ordinate and

, ,
“
forbade th e oath of secrecy the use o f t h e nonsensical ,

fo rm of salutatio n ( so ran the text o f th e decree) an d

”
,

the distin c tion b etween salutation masons an d letter

“ ” “
-

masons ( gru s s m au rer b ri e fm aure r) Nevertheless the

"

,
.
,

lodges remaine d as se c ret so cieti es until m odern freedo m

o f industrial trades stripped them o f all meaning an d ,

cu t t h e ground under t h eir feet .

3 . F RE N CH CR A F TS M E N .

V ery di fferent fro m th e Germ an so cieties o f c ra fts

men were tho se o f Fran c e Whereas i n Germany we .
,
'

find strenuous ende avor toward p erfection in the craft ,

cultivation of th e b eautiful and a disp ositi on no less el e ,

y ated in a moral sense than devoutly religio us ; i n Fran c e

we see only rude undire c ted e ffort with h e re an d there

, ,

some encouraging features I n Fran c e there i s sharp .

d istin c tion b etween the gild s o f the m asters an d the

lodges o f the journeymen The masters have neith e r a .

c o mm o rn b o nd o f un i o n n o r an c o mm on prop rt t h e
y , e y ;
c ra fts m en fo rm stron g societies with secret c on stitutio n s ,

and usag es .

There are s everal so c ieti es of French c raftsmen

( c omp a gnonnages) b ut they are not distin g uished a c cord
,

ing to locality b ut accordin g to the supposed manner

,

o f thei r first in stitution and the b ran c h o f th e c raft whi ch

they repre sent They are divided first into t wo great
.
, ,

sections t h e Comp agnons d u D evoir ( c omp anion s of

,

duty) and th e Comp agnon s de la Li b erte ( comp anion s

,

o f libe rty) Th e fo rmer a re again divi ded into the En

.

fan t s de M aitre Jacque s ( Master James s children ) and

’

th e En fants de M aitre Sou b ise ( Master Soubise s c hildren ) ’

but th e latter commonly c al led themselves Enfants d c

Salomon B etween the Comp agnon s d u D evoir and the
.

Co mp agnons de la Li b erte as well as b etwe en the c hil ,

‘

dren of James an d tho se o f Soubise there exi sts the b it ,

t e re s t enmity whi c h i s m i rrored in their myth s and tra

d i ti o n s According to th e sto ry o f the D evoir co mrades
.
,

at the b uildin g o f Solomon s temple H iram master ’

, ,

b uild e r to mai ntai n di sciplin e and order among t h e wo rk

,

men institute d so c ieties with sp eci al passwo rds an d secret

,

ritual B ut that act was th e o c c asion of his death for

.
,

so me workmen slew him b ecause he refused to gi ve them

the countersign o f th e masters : thos e evildo ers were the .

fou nders o f th e Co m p agn onnage de la Liberte ! Now :

amo ng the fa ithful workmen were two Gaulis h m asters ,

James stonemason an d So ub ise c arp enter : these after

, , , ,

th e c ompleti o n o f th e te m p le returned ho m e an d landin g , , ,

one at M arseille s th e other at B o rde aux founded so ci e

, ,

tie s after th e p attern o f those instituted b y H iram ; an d

these societies littl e b y littl e admitted craftsmen ot h e r
, ,

than b uilders b ut the two b odies live d in p erpetu al h a

,

t re d o f ea c h other ea c h c lai m i ng p ri o ri ty
, E ach of the m .
 TH E ST O N E M A S O N S 171

refers i ts o wn institution (on what ground s is u n

known ) to the years 558 B C and 550 B C resp ecti vely . . . .
, ,

and e ac h po ssesses authenti c do cuments in p ro o f t hough ,

none h as ever seen them Th e Liberte tradition i s the .

same as that of the D evoir only the respe ctive p a rts o f ,

the chief actors are reversed I n the bo so m o f La

—
.

Li b erte are gathered four crafts ston emas o ns c arp en ,

ters j oiners l oc ksmiths Th e D evoir includes 2 8 c rafts

, ,
.
,

and o f these the children o f Soubise comp ri se the c ar

p e n t e rs ro o fe
,
r s and p lasterers
r
; t o t h e c hildren o f J ames
b elong the stonem asons j oiners locksmiths and 2 2 other , , ,

trades introduced i n later times b u t all conne c ted with

, ,

ho us eb u ilding except hatmakers All other c ra ftsmen

,
.

whos e work i s the production o f c lothing and foodstu ffs

are excluded from the comp agn onnages and form sep a ,

rate societi es o f their o wn The sh o emakers an d the .

bakers in p articular are h el d in contempt and p ers e

, , ,
'

c u t e d in every way by t h e compagnons ; while among

.

James s chil d ren even t h e memb ers o f th e building crafts

’

de s p ise their j un iors (trades o f less ancient lineag e) and ,

in their i g noran c e derive th e word com p agno n fro m

“
comp as ( a pair o f comp asses) the symbol o f the art ,

o f building ; hence in dae i r eye s the other trades are quite

”

destitute of art or skill .

Even craftsmen o f th e same trade but b elonging to ,

di fferent leagues wh ether D evoir or Lib e rte oppo se each

, ,

other in every way Th e carpe n ters o f Pari s h ave mad e

.

an end o f thi s strife by dividing the co smopolitan city

b etween th ems elves the com p agn o n s d u D evoir t aking
,

the left and thos e o f La Lib erte the right b ank o f th e

Seine W ith the other trades and i n t h e provin ces the
.

'
cas e is worse t h e ho stile leagu es o ften en aging i n
,
g .

street fights an d p itc h e d battles Even in the same trad e .

and in th e same league hostilities o ften b reak o ut .

 M Y S TE R I A .

O f the Fren c h corp oration s o f c raftsmen tho se of th e ,

b uilding trades especially the stonemasons p ro b ab ly

, ,
’
arose about the same time as the German maso ns lod ges :
at least th ere existed in the M iddl e Age in south e rn
France a so c iety o f b ridge b uilders wh o for th e behoof
,
-
, ,

o f p il g rims to the H oly Lan d an d wayfarers in general

-
,

maintained b ridges road s and inns The earliest, .

known charter was granted in 1 1 8 9 b y Pope Clement , ,

I I I wh o like hi s third p rede c essor Luci u s I I I took

.
, , ,
.
,

them under hi s p rotection As emblem they wore o n .

the b reast a p ointed hammer Th e other co mp agnon .

~

nages c an sho w n o authenti c record s o f earlier date than

the 1 4th c entury The mo st an cient o f th em i s the soc i
.

ety o f the Dyers dating from 1 3 30 Admission to th ese

, .
‘

societies involves many c ere m o nie s derived fro m th e

ritual of th e Catholic Chur c h ; h en ce th e Tailo rs and ,

Sho e makers were in 1 645 denounced to the e c clesi asti cal

trib unals and their meetings forbidden b y th e theo l o gi cal
,

fac ul t y o f P aris .

4 . TH E E N G‘ I J I S H
‘

O
S T N E MA S O NS .

W hile G erm an so c ieti e s o f handi c raft s m en were

th e
oppressed by th e imp erial power and the French so c ie ,

ties lived i n o b s c urity th e Englis h m ason s lodges on th e,

’

contrary attained high imp o rtan ce

,
T ra d ition tra c e s .

English ( operative) masonry b ack to King Alfred th e

Great (8 7 1 and his successor Athel stan who s e , ,

youn ger son Edwin i s said to have cal le d meetings o f

, ,

masons an d to h ave given laws to their lodges

,
H OW .

ever that m ay b e it is c ertai n that i n En gla nd as i n

, ,

Germ any impo rtant edifices were erected b y the cl ergy

, ,

and th at D unstan , ar c hbis h o p o f Can t erb ury was an ac ,

 TH E ST O N E MA S O N S 1 73

comp li shed architect ; b u t after the rise of Gothi c archi

tect u re the build e rs were laymen and in all p robability
,

many o f them German s I n the early English so ci etie s

.

o f masons we find rule s and usages that clearly follow

German p recede nt and t h e lists o f master masons c onta i n
,

many decidedly German names Nevertheles s English

.
,

masonry showed some peculiar features e g t h e station , . .

,

o f th e master in the east the h oldin g o f th e lodge m eet

,

ings in op en ai r i n fair weather th e p o sting o f guar d s

,

aro und the lodge the drenching o f p ee p ers with th e

,

dri p fro m the roo f till th e water ran out of their shoes ”
,

etc .

The English Freemason s may have got their name

from the fact that the ori ginal founders o f lodge s were
workers i n freeston e —freestone masons as distin guished ,

fro m workers i n rough stone ; free ston e mason it i s s up ,

p o sed was after ward cont ra ct ed to the form freemason

,
“ ”
.

I n an act o f p arliament o f the year 1 3 50 the word free

m ason i s found fo r the first time By that a c t co ngre .

g a t i o n s and c h apters o f masons were forbidden But .

the masons survived this p ers ecution Among th em .

selves all mason s were equal s comrades o r fellows ; in th e

,

lodges no disti n ction was made of master and fello w ,

though of course the actual master o f a lodg e p reside d

, ,

over th e meetings The memb ers studied mutual i m

.

provement in technical knowledge and aided one an ,

other in misfortune In the reign o f Ed ward I I I the

. .

laws prohi b iting assemblage o f mason s was re laxed s o

as to p ermit meetings whe n held l n presen c e o f th e sheri ff
o f a c ounty 0 1 the mayor o f a city O u t o f thes e s o .

c i eti e s of operative masons aro s e t h e mo dern institutio n

‘

of spe c ulative freemasonry

“ ”
.
 A s tr o l o g e r s an d A l c h em i s ts .

Th e e p och o f the Refo rmation c losed with the re

co ve ry to th e Catholi c Church o f a large prop orti o n of

i t s lost territory through the labors o f the Jesuits L ong .

b efo re th e Thirty Y ears War th e zeal fo r religious c ree ds

’

h ad died out ; p e 0p 1e had grown weary of theological

strifes though they h ad littl e ta ste for oth er serious mat
,

ters an d thus it cam e ab out that in th e transition fro m the

l ot h to th e 1 7th century such p seudo scien c es as Alchemy -

and Astrolo gy had great vogue The study o f Astrology .

h ad fo r its ai m only fame and g l o rv and therefore was . . ,

p ursu ed op enly ; while Alche m y being inspired mai n ly b y

avarice had its la b oratories in dark cellars and made a
, ,

stri c t secret o f its processes .

H ence it was natural that Al ch e my or th e p retended

, ,

art of producing gold and silver should give rise to ‘

,

secret association s especially as it employed sundry

,

m ystic theosophic and ka bb alisti c mean s fo r attaining

, ,

its e nds such as were u sed by th e p u p ils and follo wers of

,

t h e famou s Th eophrastu s B o m b a s t u s Paracelsus re fo r ,

'
.

er o f th e medical art and one of th e most ze alous o f

,

astronom ers an d alch emists That was the era o f a J a c ob

.

B oehme shoemaker and philo soph er who though he

, , ,

h ad non e of the a c c urs t h un ge r for th e pre c iou s metals

“ ”
,

gave an i m petus to fatuous investigation s of divine things .

th e b eginning o f the 1 7th century a multitude o f

writings a b o ut this mystic and superstitious b u s iness ap
 A ST R O L O GE R S AND A L C H E M ISTS 1 75

p e are d ,
o and contra
pr I n this battle o f g o o s e qui l l s the
.

Lutheran theolo gi an J ohn Valentine A n d raea o f Tueb i n

,

gen (b 1 58 6 d.
,
took a ve ry p ro minent part
.
.

A n d rc ae in 1 6 1 4 con c eived the thought o f playing a tri c k

on the se m y sti c s by p ublishing two satirical pie c es in ,

whi c h was given an ac c ount o f an alleged se c ret so ciety

design ed to p romote studies o f that kind ; to thi s society
he gave a name suggested by th e design o f his o wn fa m ily
seal ( a Saint A n drew 9 c ross with ro ses at the ends of its
"
,

fo u r arm s)— Ro sicrucians “

These writings Fama Fra.
,

”
t e m i t at i s Ro s eae Cru ci s ( Fame o f the B rotherhood o f th e
“ ”
Rosy Cro ss) and Confessio Frat e rn i tati s ( Confession of
Faith o f th e B rotherhood ) traced the p retended societ y
back to a monk named Chri stian Ro senkreu z who , ,

in the 1 4th an d 1 5th centuri es vi s te d the holy l and , ,

was instru ct e d i n th e occult s c ien c es in the East founde d

—
,

among his fellow monks the brotherhoo d c alled by

'

his n am e an d died at the age o f 1 06 years

, .
After .

a lap se o f 1 20 years in his tom b which in ac c ordance

, , ,

with the rule o f the o rder was kept se c ret b ut whi c h was
, ,

a magnifi c ent stru c ture in a vault was fo und resting o n ,

his incorrup t b od y a p archment book c ont aining the c o n

s t i t ut i o n and th e s ecrets o f the order A later document .

“ ”
Ch y m i s c h e H ochzeit Chri stiani Rosenkreuz (al c h ym i c
nuptial s o f Christian Ro s enkreuz) which appeared i n ,

1 6 1 6 spa n the st o ry o ut to greater lengt h

, Now so .
,

great was the alchemisti c fu rore o f th at time th at the tal e

pa s sed for solemn ! truth an d a swarm o f writings fol ,

lowed championing or b attling against th e So c iety o f th e

,

Ro sicrucians To the opponents of the Rosy Cross b e

.

longed th e theolo gi ans who sni ffed hereti c al tenets i n th e

,
“
do cuments and t h e medi c al men who scent e d danger
.

to their close gild ; while the al ch emists and parti c ularl y

'

,
 M Y S TE R I A '

th e f ollowers o f Para c elsus in q uired dili g ently aft er the

,

Rosicrucians and m ai n tain ed th e auth enti c ity o f their

,

Con stitution . No r was there la c k o f atte m pts at inter

p r e t i n g in a mystical sense the sym b ol o f the Ros y Cro ss :
it signi fi ed H oliness j oined with S i l en ti o u s n e s s ; it typ e
fl e d the rose — colored B loo d o f Ch rist po ured out on th e
cross . Asto unded by the war o f no wits against little wits - -

o cc asioned unintentionally b y himself A n d reae tried to ,

undo the m ischief by putting forth two p ie c es , M yth o “

” “
logia Christiana and Turri s B abel to p rov e that the
, ,
’

whol e thing was a j oke that the B rotherho o d was a fi c

,

tion and non — exist e nt B ut as he neglecte d to na me him

.

s e lf as author o f th e first two writings in vai n did he pour ,

out on th e Ro s i c ru c i an i s t i c p artisan s all the vitriol o f his

conte mpt I n vai n w ith a V i ew to lead m en s fancy in
. ,
’

oth er dir ec tion s did he found a Christian B roth erhoo d

,
“ ”

for the purp ose o f p urging religio n of ab uses and plant

i n g true p iety Th e in sanity p ersisted Alch emy b are
. .
,

l y a lluded to in A n d reae s writings b e c a m e th e su b j e c t

’

o f a multitu d e o f n ew b oo ks whos e authors gave o u t that

,

they were m e m b ers of the alleged society The incid ent .

was al s o turne d to account by adventurers and b y fac .

tions o f every sort ; th e thin g went so far that in th e

Rhineland and th e Low Countries se c ret al c hemi s ti c s o
c i e t i e s we re founded under the na m e o f Rosi c r ucian s ,

which also took the styl e Fraternitas Roris C o o ti

'

( B rotherhood of B oiled D ew) that i s o f th e Ph ilosoph ers

’

, ,

Ston e ; b ut these so ci eties had no general organizati o n ‘

a m ong the m selv e s M any a Wi ght was c hou sed out o f

.
'

h i s m oney b y th ese sch e m e rs Ther e were b ranch s o .

c ieties in G erman y and Italy I n England D r Rob e rt . .

Fludd an arden t mystic and alch emist p ropagated th e

, ,
'

sin gul ar o rder b y p u b lishin g a n umb er o f writings W ith .

 A S TR O L O G E R S AND A LC H E M ISTS 177

regard to the usages o f the societies we are told that t h e

,

mem b ers roa m ed about meanly c lad with hair c ropp ed ,

close near the forehead wearin g as a token a b l a c k silken

,

co rd i n th e top b uttonhole carrying when several went

, ,

together a small green banner They claimed that their 5 0

,
.

c ie ty was an o ffshoot o f th e great knightly order o f St

J ohn .

( H o sp italers ) At their
. lodge meetings they wor e a b lue ri b
b o n on whi c h was a gold cro s s insc ribed with a rose and
, ,

th e i r p resident ( styled I mp erato r emperor) was dre ssed in

,

p riestly togs Th ey observed stri c t se c recy as toward

.

outsiders Th ey disapp eared little b y littl e in the 1 8 th

.

c entury and there i s no means o f determining the re l a

,

tion betw e en the m and t h e mason i c Rosi c ru c ians o f ,

who m m ore ano n .

 Ri s e an d Co n s ti t u ti o n of F r e e m a s o n ry .

1 . R IS E O F F R E E M A S O N R Y .

The Reformation an d th e events c onn ec ted with it

"

h ad given p eopl e m u ch matter of meditation B ut th e .

intol erance sho wn by the authorities an d by th e members

of b oth creeds in m altreatin g and persecutin g th eir o p
,

p o n e n t s so,ali enated all human e minded men that secretly

peop le b egan to c are neither for the interest o f Protestant
i sm nor for t h at of Catholicism and in the common ,

brotherhood o f mankind to d i sregard all di fferen c es o f

“ ”
creed I lluminism which h ad b een good form though
.
,

in a frivolou s s ense among the Te mplars and in a satiri c ,

se ns e among th e Stonemason s too k a more dignified ,

shape no t of incredulity b ut o f earn est desire to b u ild up

‘

, ,

and to this cons u mmatio n th e English m asb n s con

trib uted materiall y I n En gl an d people h ad had enough
.

o f strife ov e r cre eds enough of p ersecution o f Protestant s

,

under B loo dy M ary and o f Catholics under th e i n

“ ”

flexible Elizab eth and they longed for toler a n ce

,
They .

derived th e p rinci p le s of toleran ce from re nascent lite ra

ture an d art which made s u ch imp ression that as in an
,

earlier age the Ro mani c archite c ture s o now the Gothi c , ,

a s the exp ression o f a definite pha se o f b elief lo st its fol ,

lowing and the s o called Augustan o r Renaissan c e

“

—
-
,

style an i mitation o f the an cient Grecian an d Roman

s tyle s — wo n the d ay wi th all who knew an ything o f art .

1 78
 FRE E M A S O N R Y 179

Th e Renaissan c e style was b rought to En gland by the

p ainter Inigo Jones w h o h a d le arn ed his art in I taly and
, ,

who under James I b e ca m e in 1 607 superintendent gen

,
.
,

eral of roya l constru ctio ns and at the same time president,

o f the Freemas ons whose lodges h e reformed I nstead

,
.

of the yearly general meetings h e instituted quarterly

meetings : such masons as adhered to th e manual c raft
and cared nothing for intellectual aims were p ermitted
to go back into th e trade gilds ; while on th e other hand , ,
’
men of tal ent not belonging to the mason s trade but ,

who were interested in architec ture and in the aspira

tions of t h e time were taken into th e lodges under the
,
“ ”
name of accep ted brethren Under the alte red Ci r.

c u m s tan ce s a new b old s p irit awoke a mong the Free

,

masons and it found suppo rt in th e sentiment o f b rother

,

l i n e s s irres p ective o f creeds the n everywhere p revalent

, , .

Thi s dispo sition o f minds was p ro moted in an i n cal c u

lable degree by the pictures drawn by Sir Thomas M ore
“ ” “
in his Uto p ia and by Sir Fran ci s B acon in his New
,

Atlanti s o f countries existing indeed onl y in thei r

, , ,

i m agination b u t whic h p resented ideal conditions su c h as

, ,

enlightened mind s might desire to realize up on this earth ;

also by the writings of the B ohemian p reacher Amo s ,

Ko mensky (latinized Comenius) who during the Thirty , ,

Y ears W ar was ex p elled from his country b y t h e parti

’

sans o f the Emperor and came to England in 1 64 1 ,

writings that condemned all churchly bigotry and pleaded

fo r c osmop olitanism As men o f the most diverse vie ws
.
,

p oliti cal and religious were in the lodges the order suf
, ,

fe re d severely d u ri n g t h e civil commo tions o f th e first

and se cond revol u tion but on the return o f p eace it more
,

than recovered lost p restige The rebuilding o f Lon .

don and in p artic u lar St Paul s Cathedral

, . added ’
 ’

M Y S TE R I A

greatly to the fa m e o f English masonry? Sir Chri stopher

Wren b uilder o f Saint Paul s was of th e b roth erhood
,
’

,
.

B ut about the time of the deat h of William I I I .

owing to sla c kness of oc cu patio n i n the b uildin g trades ,

the F re e m aso n lodge s b ecam e conscious o f a serious de

i
fec t in the r o rganization Th e memb ers who
. were prae
ti cal ly connected with the op erative craft of masonry were
ste adily de c lini ng in numb er and th e ac c epted masons
“ ”
,

had becom e the maj ority The lo dges therefore had .

, ,

come to b e a sort o f club s an d thi s tran sfo rmation sp read

,

rap idly in London .

Anoth er influence that cam e in to a ffect th e develop

ment o f English freemasonry was the di ffusion of dei stical
O p inion s by Locke s school in p h ilo sophy Though the
’
.

lodges th en as now made loud p rotestation s o f ortho

, ,

doxy they could not withdraw themselves out o f th e

,
“

deisti c al atmosphere o f the pe riod .

The resultan t o f these di fferent influen ce s gained th e

upp er hand in the clu b s o r lodges o f the q uondam mason s ,

now Freemasons They now aimed at a more thorough

.

b etterm ent of mo rals on a conservatively deistical basis .

B ut th e necessity o f a clo ser organization was recognized .

Two th eologian s Theop hilus D e s agu l i e rs (wh o was both

,

a naturalist and a mathemati cian ) and James Anderson ,

to gether with George Payn e anti quary were the fore , ,

mo st men of those who i n th e year 1 7 1 7 e ffe c ted th e

, ,

union of the four lodge s of masons in Lo ndon in one

Grand Lodge ari d p ro cure d th e election o f a Grand M as
,

ter and two Grand Warden s thus instituting the Free ,

m asons Unio n as it exists at this day ; W h at Je rusalem

’

i s to Je w s an d Me c c a to M ohammedans and Rome to ,

C atholics that London is to Freemasons

,
.

H en c eforth the mason s of Englan d were n o l o nger

 F R E E MA S O N R Y 18 1

a society of handicraftsmen but an asso ciation o f men ,

o f al l orders and every vocation as also o f eve ry creed , ,

wh o met together on th e broad basi s o f human ity and ,

recognized no standard of human worth other than mo

ra li ty kin d liness and lov e of truth
,
The n ew Freemasons .

retained the symbolism o f the o p erative masons their ,

la n guage and their rit u al No longer did they b u ild

.

houses an d churches but the spiri tual tem p le o f humanity ;

,

they u sed the s q u are no more to meas u re ri ght angles o f

blocks o f stone b u t for evening the ine q ualities o f h u
,

man character nor the co mpass any more to describ e

,

circles on ston e b u t to trace a ri ng o f b roth er lo ve around

,
-

all mankind It was perh ap s a p ict u re o f the yo u ng

.
, ,

“
league of the Freemasons that Toland drew in his S o
cratic Society which however he clothed in a , ,

vesture the reverse o f Grecian The symposia or

‘

brotherly feasts of this soci ety their give and take o f ,

- -

q u estions and answers their aversion to the rule of mere

,

ph y sical fo rce to comp ulso ry religious belief and to

, ,

creed hatred as well as their mild and tolerant dis p o si

,

tion and their b rotherly regar d for o n e another remind ,

us strongl y of the ways of the Freem asons .

Though di fferences o f creed p layed no p a rt in t h e

new mason ry nevertheless the b rethren held religi on
,

in high esteem and were steadfast u p holders o f th e only

,

two articles of beli ef that never were invented by m an ,

b u t which are borne in on the mind and heart of e very

m an the existen c e o f God to wit and th e soul s i m
, , ,
’

mortality .
Acco rdingly every lodge was o p ened an d
clo sed with p rayer to the Almi ghty Architect o f th e uni
"
verse ; an d in the lodge o f mourning in memo ry o f a de
“
ceased broth e r this formula was u sed : H e has passed
,

Over into the ete rnal East —to tha t regi on when ce light
”
 M Y S TE R I A

p ro c eeds . Po litical p arties al so were not re garded

, ,

among Freemason s : one p ri nci p l e alone was co mmon to

l —
the m a l love of country resp ect for law and o rder de
, ,

sire for the co mmon wel fare .

I nas m uch as th e league must prize unity one of ,

t h e first decrees o f the Grand Lodge was one declaring

’
illegitimate all lo dges created witho ut its s anction H ence .

to thi s day no lodge s are reco gnized as s u ch which are

not founded origina lly and mediately from London D e .

s p ite this restri ction there s p rung up even in th e first

years after the institution o f the Grand Lodge a multi
tude o f new lodges which re ceived authorization fro m th e
,

Grand Lodge . With these numerous a cc ession s th e

.

need of gene ra l laws b ecame pre ssing and at request of ,

the Gran d Lodg e And erso n on e of the founders under

, , ,

too k to comp are th e existing statutes o f the o rde r with

the ancient record s an d usages o f t h e Stonemason s an d ,

to co mp ile them in on e b ody of law Th e result was .

th e B ook o f Constitutions whi c h i s s till th e gro und

“
,
.

work of F reemasonry It ha s been p rinted repeatedly

.
,

and is accessibl e to every one Anot he r foundation stone .

o f Freemasonry was laid by the Gran d Lodge in 1 72 4 ,

“
when it in stituted the committee for b en e fi c e n c e thu s ,

giving play to on e o f th e most ad mirable features o f the

o rder— that o f gi vi n g help to th e n eedy and unfortunate
'

whether within the orde r or witho u t .

The inner o rganiza tion o f t h e o rder fi n ally was com , ,

p l e t e d by the introduction of the D egre es Brother s .

who had filled the post o f M asters on retiring fro m o i ,

fi c e did not return to the grad e o f Fellows but consti

, ,

t u t e d a new degre e that of M asters : on the other han d

, ,

newly admitted memb ers were no longer fo rthwith Fel

lows b ut only app rentices : thes e degrees were i nstituted
,
 FR E E MA S O NR Y 1 83

p ro b a b ly in 1 720 ; at th at time no other higher degrees

were known Th e right to pro mote a p p rentices to the
.

degree of Fellow an d Fellows to that o f M aster pre

, ,

vi o u s l y a function of the Grand Lodge was a c co rded to ,

the s u bo rdinate lo d ges in 1 72 5 .

Soon Freemason ry sp read ab road Lodges aro se .

i n all civilized co untri es fo unded by English mason s or

,

by foreigners who had received masonic initiatio n in En g

l a nd ; these lodges when su fficiently numerous united
. ,

u nder Gra nd Lodges The Gran d Lodge o f I reland

.

was create d in 1 7 3 0 those o f Scotl and an d of Fran ce

,

in 1 7 3 6 a p rovincial lodge o f England at H am b urg in

,

1 7 40 the Unity Lodge of Frankfort o n the M ai n in 1 742

,
- - -
,

and in the same year a lodge at Vienn a the Grand ,

Mother Lodge of the Three World sp h ere s at B erlin in -

1 744 etc
, . A lodge was instituted at B o st o n Mas s in , ,

I 7 3 3 and fro m B oston the order sp read to Philadelphia

,
.

Thus in the space o f thirty years from its o rigin free

masonry e xi sted in all civilized lands and so d id not lag ,

b ehind its o p posite pole Jesuitism in resp ect o f rap idity

, ,

of propa gation O pp osite p oles these two so cieties are

.
,

for each p ossesses p recisely tho se q ualities which the .

other lack s Th e Jesuits are strongly centralized th e

.
,

freemasons only confed erated Jesuits are contro lled b y

. .

’
one man s will Freemasons are under maj o rity rule
, .

Jesuits bottom morality in expediency Free mas o ns in ,

regard for the wellbeing o f mankind Jes u its recogn ize

. .

only one cre ed Freemasons hold in resp ect all hones t

,

convi ctions Jesuits seek to b reak do wn p erso nal inde

.

p en d e n c
, e Free m ason s to b uild i t up .
 2
. C O N STITUTI O N O F TH E OR DE R .

The Society o f Fre e masons b ecause o f its histo ri c ,

propagation through sets fro m the English sto ck and

,

through further budding an d b ranching o f th ese fo rms ,

no unita ry o rganic whole I t has no c entral or supreme .

authority no co mmon head wh ether acknowled ged or

, ,

unacknowledged Its sole unity consists in a c ommon

.

name and a co mmo n end in th e common reco gn ition ,

sign s i n agreement as to the general intern al polit y an d

, ,

in a general unifo rmity o f usages th o ugh t h ese sho w ,

marked di fferences also B ut very di ffere nt b etween one

.

country a n d another are the methods employed fo r at

taining th e ends o f Freemasonry ; di fferent also is the o r
a n i z at i o n o f th e lodge and th e a rrangement o f the work
g .

Regardin g the co mmon end and aim of Freemasonry

there is l a c k o f p erfec t d efi n i t en es s In this regard Free .
-
c

masonry p re sents a strong contra st to its rival Jesuiti sm

“

, ,

which has only too cl ear perception o f its aim B ut so .

muc h i s a b so lutely indisp utable that th e end o f Free ,

masonry i s neither religio us nor p o liti c al b ut p urely

‘

moral . Freem as onry l abors to pro mote the wellbein g

”
o f mankind : here al l Freemasons are at o n e though ,

so me o f them may lay more stress o n material well

b eing so me o n purely mo ral some on spiritual welfare
,
'
, ,

while a gai n o th e rs will con sider the wellb eing o f the

whole and still others the wellb eing o f individual s as the
, ,

o b j ect of the society B ut a s th e s e several views are by

.

no means mutually exclusiv e b ut in fact complementary , , ,

of on e another this l ack o f definition in th e end of the

,
'

so ci ety cannot b e any hindrance to the so ciety s b en e fi ’

cent labors . And as matt e r o f fact the society has

wro ught much goo d Not only do e s it help its own
.
 FR E E M A S O N R Y 185

m e mb ers in need ; no worthy p erson i n n eed ever app eals

to t h e order for relief in vai n .

B ut as it is imp ossi b le tha t i n so wi del y di ffused a

.

so c iety th e m e m b ers should know o ne a n other p erson

ally i t b e c ame ne c essary to establish token s b y which a
,

mason may b e ab le to reco gnize the m as o n s h i p an d the

d egree of a fellow m ason These tokens c onsist of a .

word uttered in a pe c uliar way a sign made b y various

.
,

motion s of th e hand and a p eculiar pressure gi ven in

shaking han ds (the gri p) The m as on is als o re c o gnized
.
!

by his knock on a door his way o f drinking etc p ro

, , .
,

vi d ed he cares to m ake use o f these methods o f i n t i m at

ing his masonry .

B esides th e se p e c uliariti e s co m m o n to al l Free

masons there are sp e c ialties shared only b y p articular
s ection s o f the m as o ni c body The whol e b ody o f Free
.

mason s b eca us e o f its di ffusio n a m ong divers e natio n

,
~

“ ”
al i t i e s
,
i s divided into a numb er o f systems differing
one from an other in t h e c ere m onies o f initiation o f p ro ,
-

motion to hi gh er degrees o f th e lodg e o f so rro w an d o f

, ,

other o ccasions Th e di fferen c es consist largely in the

.

form and teno r of the solemn addres s e s an d co unter

addresses or q uestions and answers with whi ch the m eet
'

ings are ope n ed an d cl o sed : t h ese forms are an imitation '

o f the ritual s o f the ancient stonem ason lo dges an d of ,

other s e c ret o rganizations The ritual fo r th e re c eptio n

.

o f an appli c ant into the first degree that o f app rentice is , ,

mo deled on the stonemasons ri tual ; and the c e remonie s

"

o f the higher degrees are amplifi c ations o f th e sa m e

o rigi n als with emb ellishments
, I n b ri ef the ritual o f
.
,

ad m issio n i s su c h as was us ed b y the m o nkish an d th e

‘

kn i ghtly orders ; b ut the prototyp e o f all these rituals wa s

u nd ou b tedly the ceremonial of b apti s m in the C atholi c

C hur c h .
 M Y S TE R I A

No do ubt m any p ersons are desirous of k n o wi ng

what takes p la c e o n the admission of a would b e Free -

mason . Fo r the sake of such p erson s it m ay b e re

marked that thes e ceremonies are di fferent in di fferent
s yste m s and that con se quently an expo sition o f t h e m
,

would re quire a more than ordinarily voluminous wo rk ;

that furthermo re when communicated in writing th ey
, , ,

lo se all the e ffe ct they have wh en employed in the a c t o f

i n itiation ; an d that th ev would b e likely t o m ak e n o i m
'

pression whatever o n one who s ho uld desire to know

them o ut of m ere curiosity .

In th e cere m onial of Free m asonry symbol s or e m

Ll e m ati c devi c es hol d a p ro minent place O f these th e .

’
most ancie n t are b o rrowed fro m th e stonemason s lodges ,

’
and therefore rep resent mason s tools and i mplements ;
, ,

other sy mb o lic device s are reminiscent o f various secret

so c i eties or o f e cc lesiasti c al rites B ut both in sym b olism
.

an d in c eremonial many a b use s have in the course of ,

ti me crept in and innovation s have b een mad e which

, ,

mar th e native simplicity o f the order and divert it fro m

the p ursuit o f more useful ends "

The re c ognition signs the c e remonial and the sym

, ,

b ols are the only secrets in Freemason ry Mysteries .

,

that i s to say knowledge of things that are hidden fro m

,

all o ther p ersons the o rder ha s none and the cl aims that
, ,

have b een m ade in that regard are witho ut foundation .

D iscretion with resp e c t to the business o f the lodges an d

,

t h e m em b ership Freemason ry enjo ins in common with

,

many other so cieties ; and so far th e o rder i s a close

s o c iety o r a p rivate so c iety and not a s ecret so c i ety
, , Of .

s e c ret ma c hinations and intrigues such as are hatched in

the Jesuit o rder and in th e secret political asso c iations of

o u r t i m e th ere i s no trace in Freemas onry
, .
o
 FR E E M A S ON R Y
'
18 7

The m asoni c organization o f ea ch co untry exists for

itself and in entire independence of other c ountries A
'

m in o r union of Freemasons consisting o f memb ers all , ,

o f who m as a rul e attend its meetings is called a Lodge

, , ,
.

The place ( city town village in which there are

, , ,

one or more lodges is called O rient ; the presiding o fficer

o f a lodge is the Master and wit h him are asso ciated two ,

W ardens b esides oth er o ffi c ers Th e asse m blage o f the .

memb ers a s well as the place in which they meet is

, ,

called a lodge A lodge may b e an isolated one that

.
,

is entirely independent ; but that i s rarely th e c as e ; as a

,

rule e ach lodge belongs to a unio n of lo dges called ,

Gran d Lodge o r Gran d O rient The several lodges of

,
.

such a union work sometimes o n o ne co mmon system ,

so metimes on di fferent systems Again th e grand .

,

lodges di ffer greatly in their organization As a rul e .

they have a Grand M aster with several Gran d O fficers

,
, ,

and these are either elected by delegates fro m all the as

so ciate lodges or are named by certain s p ecially p riv
,

ileged lodges The freest masoni c constitution is that

.

o f Switzerland adopted in 1 8 44 : there the seat of the

,

Grand Lodge is chan ged i n every five ye ars I n mon .

arc hi cal countries the royal residen ce city i s usually the

seat o f th e Grand Lodge There are in Germany eight .

grand lodges whose j u risdictions overlap one another so

, ,

that o ften there may b e in a give n c ity several lodges b e

longing to as many di fferent gran d lodges : b ut t h at doe s
no p rej udice to fraternal harmony France B elgium .
, ,

S p ain an d B raz il have each two grand lo dges each with

, ,

a distin c t syste m o f ritua l B ut i n H oll and Switzerland .

, ,

D en m ark Sweden England Scotland Ireland H un

, , , , ,

gary Italy Portugal and Greec e al l the lodges of e ach

, , ,

c o untry b elong to one grand lo dge I n ea c h o f the states .

 M Y S TE R I A ’

o f the A m eri c an Union there i s a grand lodge and the ,

same i s to b e s ai d of th e l arger states of Central and

South Ameri c a In the B ritish colonie s and depend
.

en ci e s India the Cap e Australasia etc the lodges are

, , , .
, ,

under th e j uri sdictio n o f th e Grand Lodge o f the United

Ki n gdom : B ritish America however has its own Grand , ,

Lodge The grand lodge s o f the world number more

.

th an 90 th e subordinate lodges m ore than

, and
the m em b ers p erhap s one million reckoning only thos e
, , ,

in good an d regular standing ; b ut this i s only a rough

estimate ; precise figures are not obtaina b l e in default o f
a unita ry o rgani zation .

3 . TH E L O DG E .

Th e several lodge s are na m ed after p er so ns virtues , ,

ma soni c emb lems historic events et c I n America and

, , .

England they are often desi gnated b y num b ers indicative

o f th e time o f their foundation A lodge may b e erected .

wherever a certain num b er o f resident a c cepted b rethren ,

among the m at l east three masters desire to e ffect ,

an organization a n d obtain the approval of the grand

,

lodge having j urisdiction An indispensable re q uisite

for a lodge is a wel l tiled apartment—one well p ro
.

t e ct e d against the intrusion of outsiders spies or eaves , ,

droppers Usuall y th e lodge i s a s quare o blon g h all o r

.

roo m furnish ed after the m anner o f the time and country

, ,

and decorated with th e masonic insignia The attire o f .

t h e assem b led b rethren i s usually black with white gloves ,

( e mb le m atic o f han ds not soiled by unj ust gain ) and a

sho rt white leather apro n a m emento o f the stonemason s
,

and of th e o bligation to labor The u se of other insignia .

and o f tokens to indi c ate the ran k o f the o fficials i s left

to the dis c retio n o f the several lodges I n Englan d an d .
 F R E E M A S O NR Y 18 9

h e r colo nies in the United State s , B elgi um and Fr an c e

,

on festive o ccasions Freemasons ap p e ar in p ubli c and on

t he streets in full ma s onic regalia b eari ng the e mblematic ,

insignia o f the order : i n Ge rm any and Switzerl and such

parade is frowned up on by Freemason s as unb eco ming .

A F re e m as o n lodge is an App rentice Lodge a Fel ,

l o w cra ft Lodge or a Masters Lodge ac c ording to th e de

’

, ,

gree o f its m emb ers I n the Apprenti c e lodge m ason s

.
,

of all degrees take part : its b usiness is to delib erate upo n

the a ffairs o f the lodge and to admit new a p p rentices ,
.

I n the Fellowcraft lodge the Fellow s an d the M asters

take p art : its function i s simp ly to p romote memb ers
fro m the first to the second degree Th e M asters lodge .
’

is for masters exclusively : the masters direct the wo rk

o f the app renti c es and promote F e l lo wc raft s to the m as
ter s degree B eside s in ea c h degre e there is given i h
’
.
,

struction u p on the s y mbolis m and work o f the sam e—this

“
i s call ed a Lodge o f I nstruction ”
Ea c h degree has .

its sp ecial meaning a sum o f doctrines and a c ertain num

,

b er of symbols The p urp ort o f the App rentice de gree

.

is the seeing o f the ligh t in th e spiritual sen se th e -

s p iritual birth of m an : an explanation i s given of the na

ture o f the order its aims and its c o nstitution
'
, Th e .

Second degree deal s with the life of ma n its j o y s its , ,

griefs its fears : teaches to withstand p assion and t e m pt a

,

tion to know oneself and to fo rm an ide a o f the model

, ,
’
human career Finally the tea ching o f th e master s de
.
,
~

gre e treats o f the end o f life death its inevitableness ; , ,

p ro p oses for imitation the examples o f great men who

have given up their life fo r humanity ; suggests though ts
con c erning the immortal life Sometimes also the th re e .
, ,

degrees are explained as the embodiment o f the m a soni c

mott o : B ea uty Strength and W isdo m These degree s
, , .
 M Y S TE B I A

a re
'
also known as the Saint John degrees and the lodge s ,

as lodges o f St J ohn the Baptist b eing the cho sen p a

.
, .

tron o f the o rder as he was also o f th e medieval stone

,

mas o ns and o f th e Templars The fact that th e masons .

are u nder the p atronage o f Saint Joh n the B a p tist i s i n ~

t e rp ret e d t o mea n tha t the o rder i s the fore ru nner o f a

hap p ier condition o f mankind as John was the forer u n ,
~

ner of J esus O n the fea st o f Saint John (J une 2 4t h ) or

.

th ereab out in t h e year 1 7 1 7 th e first meeting of the

, ,

Grand Lodge o f London was held ; and on that sam e day

there i s held in ev ery masoni c lo d ge th rougho ut the
world a festival at o n ce grave and
All ma les who hav e attained legal maj ority an d ,

wh o are o f go o d rep ute an d their own masters are eligible ,

fo r admission to th e o rder without regard to r ac e sta , ,

tion c alling o r creed

, Unfortunately Freemasons ha v e
,
.
,

not always and eve rywhere b een free fro m antiquated

pre j ud ices in the admissio n o f new m emb ers : D own to
thi s day lodges i n th e United States s h ut th eir doors in
th e face o f m en o f colo r i e of those who are n o t whit es ; ,
. .
,

and man y German Danish , and Swedish lodges both , ,

grand and p articu lar exclude Jews ; i n consequence , ,

there are very man y lodges o f colored men and in Ger

many some Jewi sh lodges wh erea s in the British col ,

o n i e s brethren o f all colors and c r ee d s work to gether in

th e same lodges .

Wo men and c hildren are not alto g eth er shut o ut

*
W e ma k e no m en t i o n h ere o f th e s o -c a l l e d hi g h er de
gr e es ,
”
h h
w ic ar e , i n fa o t , b ut a m a te ur i s h fa b ri ca t i o n s , wi t h .

o ut a ny p ra c ti cal aim . Th ey a re d i s t a s t e fu l f o rm s o f t h e t ru e
.
,

h
fre e m a s o n ry ; t e y d i ffe r a s t o n a m e a n d nu m ber b et o ne

t h
s y s em an d an o t e r ; a n d t h e t r u e l o d g e s o f Sain t J o h n free s

ma s o n s rec o gn i ze no s ue h “
s up e rg ra d u a t i o n .
”
Th e hi gh er de
g r ee s are co n si d e re d in ano t h er p ar t o f this
. wo rk .
 FR E E M A S O N R Y 19 1

fro m Freemasonry everywhere I t is the al mo st u niversa l .

c u stom to admit before the att ainment of maj ority ma

, ,
~

son s sons who may have b een instructed by t heir fathers

’

as to the meaning of Freemasonry There are also sp e .

c i al meetin g s which the wives the b etrothed t h e si sters

, , ,

and the da u ghters of masons are p ermitted to attend B u t .

we have an un mas o n i c excrescen c e and an abus e when as ,

in French lodges with doors op en to the p ublic a m a

, ,
~

soni c baptism an d a masonic marriage c eremony are p er

formed with s p ecial ri t ual ; still mor e wo rthy o f repro b a
’
tion are the Adoption lodges or Wo men s lodges insti ,

t ut e d at v ario us times in France : in these wo men were

initiated with a ceremonial adapted to the occ asion and ,

were p ro m oted to various degrees ; thus before the Revo ,

l u ti o n th e luckless Prin cess de L amb alle in the tim e o f ,

Na p ol eo n the Emp ress Josephine an d under the Re s t o ra ,

tion th e D uc hess de Laro ch e fo u c aul d were presidents o f

lodges I n other qu arters also the cry h as been raised
.

for th e ad mission o f th e fair sex : but ne edle s s to say that

such an innovatio n would very se riou sly c omp romise the .

gravity th e di gnity and the secre c y o f the order an d

, , ,

breed tro u b le b oth in the lodges an d i n t h e families o f the

,

memb ers .O n c e a woman was unwittingly admitted

t o th e se c rets of Freemasonry Elizab et h Aldwo rth .
,

daughter of the Irish V iscount D o n n erai l e in who se ho use ,

a lodge used to hold its meetings on one o cc a sion in her , ,

young girlhoo d p eeped through a c rack in a partitio n and

,

witne ssed the admi ssion of a mason She was caught i n .

the a c t and to p revent b etrayal was herself initiated I n

, , , .

her after life she was noted for her acts o f b enevolen ce ,

and once wearing the m asoni c togs he aded a public walk

, ,

o f t h e brethre n The Emp ress Maria Theresa also it i s

.
,

said dress ed in m an s apparel on c e stole into a l o dge i n

,
’
,
 P A R T TE N TH .

S e cr e t S o ci e ti e s o f th e Ei gh t e en th Ce n t u ry .

1 . M IS C E L L A N E O US S E C R E T S O C I E T I E S .

Conditions in th e 1 8 th century w ere special ly favor

able to the vogue o f se c ret o rgan izations : illuminism was
making headway b ut at th e s ame time ther e re mained
,

many a relic o f m edieval b arb arism Th e m anifest c on .

t ras t s of opinion naturally inclined m en of like mind to

co me together in se c ret so cieties fo r th e advan c emen t o f
their favo rite pri nciples These s o c ieties copied th e
.

methods o f Freemas o nry and wer e i n at gre ater o r les s

, ,

degr ee its rival s S o me o f the m admitt ed wo me n t o

.

m emb ership .

The so c ietie s of both sexe s were intend ed to c om

!

pensate women fo r their ex c lusion fro m the Freemason

lodge The O rder o f Wo o d s pl i tt ers ( fendeurs) founded
.
“ ”

’
,

in 1 747 by the Chevalier B e auh ai n e a distinguished Free ,

mason too k its symbolis m entirely fro m t h e work o f the

,

wo o d s p li tt e r o r woo dchopp er ; the lodges were ya rds ( i e . .

,

woodyards c hantiers) the m em b ers were c ousin s (c ousins

, , ,

cousines ; i e male and fem ale c o usins) the c an didate

. .
, ,

was a Steel (u s ed to strike fire fro m a flint) and so fo rth ,

.

The O rder of H ope ( esperance) was fo und ed expressly

“ ”

for th e b eho of o f Freemasons wives and they al one were ’

,

admitted ; b ut masons o f the higher degree s c o uld visit

t h e lodges without initiation The p r esident was a .

193
19 4 M Y S TE R I A

w oman .Th ere were Esperan c e lodges in several cities of

Germany ; at Go ett i n g e n th e university students j oin ed the
ord e r for the sake o f th e refinement o f mann e rs got from
asso c iation w i th the l adies There i s some doubt as to th e .

true c haracter o f the O rder o f Saint Jonath an (after

“ ”

“
ward of Saint Joachim) q u alified as fo r True and Per ,

” “
feet Friendshi p o r fo r the D efense of th e H onor o f
,

”
D ivine Provid e n ce I ts end would seem to have been
.

to p ropagate belief in the Trinity to refrain from th e ,

dan c e ( esp eci ally the waltz) and fro m games o f chance ; ,

al so (this fo r t h e femal e members) to nurs e their o wn

children I t was fo u nded by some German nobles and
.
,

its first gran dmaster wa s Chri stian Fran cis D uk e o f ,

Saxe Coburg Though Protestants an d Catholics w ere

-
.

mem b ers o f th e o rder it took on a strongly Catholi c ,

ch ara c ter and in I 78 5 adopted th e style o f the knightly

,
“

Secular Chapter o f the O rder o f Saint Joa c him the b les s ed ,

Father o f th e H oly Virgin M ary M other o f O ur Lord ,

”
and Savior Jesus Christ (ri tt e rl i ch we l tl i c h e s o rd en s k a b ~

p itel von St Joachim etc ) Th e so cie ty p assed q uietly

.
,
.

out o f exi stence The O rder of the Pilgrims Chain

“
.
’

( Kette der P i l g ri m e ) in Germany and ,

D en mark who se ,

memb ers b elonged to the high er classes had for its motto ,

“
Co urtesy Ste adfastness and Silence (Wil l faeh ri gk e i t
,
”
, ,

B e s t ae n d i gk e i t Still schweigen ) and wore in a b utton

, ,

hole a white rib b on bearing the i nitial letters

o f t h o se three words The mem b ers male and .
,

fe mal e were cal led Favorites ( favoriten ) ; to admit

,

a new memb er was to ad d a link to the c hain ;

“ ”

an d any m emb er could add any link who m he

might have known for half a year The sym bolism .

”
was borrowed fro m travel The O rder o f Argonauts
“
.

wa s fo unded in 1 7 7 2 by Conrad von Rh etz a B run s wi ck ,

 S E C R E T S O C I E TI E S O F 18 TH CE N TU R Y 19 5

Free m ason O n an islet in a p ond l eas e d to him by t h e

.

stat e he b uilt a temple in whi c h th e me m bers were i n i ti

at e d They app roa c hed the templ e in b arges an d there
.

Were entertai ned by th e G ran d Ad m iral as the founder ,

was styled Th ere was no fee for ad m issi o n The m otto

. .

was Long Live Gladness the b ad g e o f th e o rde r wa s

“

a g reen en ameled anchor o f silver The o fficers be si des

-
.
,

the Gran d Admiral were the Pilot th e Ship s Ch aplai n

, ,
’

and so fo rth an d the me m be rs were Argonauts After

,
.

'

the founder s deat h the order went to wr e ck and the

’

temple dis appe ared leaving n o vestige The re n own ed

, .

“
Fe ne lo n found ed at D ouai an order called the Palladi
um its se cret diale c t was tak en fro m hi s ro m an c e Tele
,
” “

”
masque .

The O rder of the M ustardseed s aid to have b een .

founde d in En gland in 1 708 : it sp read over H olland and

Germany : it assumed th e form o f a Protesta n t c lerico ‘

knightly order and con c erned itself chi efly wi th reli gious
'

a ffa irs : its emblem was a gold cro ss wi th mustard tre e in ,

the m i d dle This soci ety was reputed to b e c onne c ted

.

with the H errnhuters ( Moravian b reth ren) .

Th e O rde r of t h e L eal ( O rd e n d e r E c hten ) found ed

“ ”
s
,

in 1 7 58 at Landes h ut b y B essel a Pru ssian milita ry o f

, , ,

fi c e r had for its end simp ly g ood fellowship : it l ab o re d

,
-

to wi n over to Prussia the Silesian nobility .

Th e So c iety of the D ucats ( D uk at en s o ci etat) had

“ ”

for its founder ( 1 746) Count Louis of N euwied colonel ,

i n t h e Prussi an Army The memb ers contri b uted one

.

ducat a month ; b ut when a member indu ced outsiders to

j oin the society then for the fi rst o utsider hi s o wn c on
,

tri b uti o n for the month cu rren t was remitted ; fo r th e

third fifth and each followin g odd numb ered n ew ac
,
-

c ession p ro curred by h i m h e re c eived a du c at Thi s vul .

 M Y S TE R I A

gar s windle which was the sole end of the so c iety

‘

, ,

worked finely and the membership grew rapidly : but the

,

So c iety of the D u c ats was suppressed by th e government

after an existen c e o f two years .

Att empts to establish other fraudulent orders we re

made by a swindler who understood the foible o f his
co ntemporaries for mysteries
'
M atthew Gro s s i n ge r or
.

‘
,

a s hle styled himself Franc 1 s Rudolf von Gro ssing

,
son ,

o f a b ut c her b o rn 1 752 at Komo rn in H unga ry would

, , , ,

see m to h ave b e en once a Jesuit After the supp ression .

of his o rder h e o ffered to sell to Freder i c the Great some

,

Austrian o f fi cial do c u ments but met with a rep ulse ; then

,

h e represented himself to Jo seph I I as a victi m o f the .

rea c tiona ry policy of the pre cedin g reign and in 1 78 4 ,

founded in the interest o f hi s o wn p o c ket the O rder o f

”
the Ro s e and again in 1 78 8 donning wo men s clothes ’
‘

. , ,

the O rder o f H armo n v both o rders admitting members

“
,
“ ”
o f either sex H e named F rau von Ro senwald a non
.
,

existent p ersonage as h ead o f the o rder with th e title

, ,

S t i ft s ro s e (The I nstitute s Ro se)

’
The several local so cie
.

ties were kno wn as Ro ses and th eir p resi ding o fficers as

,

Ro s yl o rd s an d Ro s yl ad i e s ( Ro s e n h e rre n Ro s e n d am e n ) ,
.

B ut in fact Gro ssing was all in all an d he app rop ri ated to ,

himself the very lib eral contri b utions and all oth er i n
co me : for that en d alone were the so cieties established .

H e died i n wretched circumstance s having al way s ,

s quandered his gains in luxury an d extrav agance .

2 . O B S C U R A N TIST IN F LU E N C E S .

The dayb reak o f illum i n i sm i n the 1 8 th century gave

to the pa rtis an s of the an cient despotism o f creed and
p rivilege matter o f mo st serious con c ern They saw all .
 S E C R E T S O C I E TI E S O F 1 8 TH C E N TU R Y 19 7

their c ontrivan c e s for keepin g the p eople igno rant and

submissive b a ffled .For them as fo r the Pap acy at the
,

day b reak of the R e fo rmation the question was To b e or ,

Not to be B ut theirs wa s a war wi th a far more redoubtable

.

foe than Protestantis m ever was I lluminism did n o t aim

.

merely at sep aration fro m th e Ro man Church : it de

c l are d a wa r of exterm ination against Ro me it aimed at ,

ab olition o f all authority that presume d to determi ne th e

beli efs of men or to dictate their opinions To down this .

hateful sp irit o f ill u mini sm with one blow—what sati s

'

faction that wo uld a fford to the ob scurantists o f that

time ! B ut where should they b e gi n ? It was va in to
think o f silen cin g th e literary cham p ions o f illumini sm
’

The age of wit c h trial s and courts of I n quisition was p ast .

The problem was to find an organize d institution i n

which the o dious spi rit o f illuminism was as it were i n , ,

c o rp o rat e d
,
and that could be no other than th e society
o f the Freemasons But the experience o f th e Pop es and
.

the In q ui sition had shown that Freemasonry was no t to

'

be overmastered by persecution b y prisons or b y th e, ,

stake H ence other champion s must t ake th e place o f

.
,

th e D ominican in q uisitors : the Freemason s must b e wo n

over to the good ca use by fl atte ri e s and caj oleries .

Among the illuminists o f that day th e Jesui ts were re

garded as the agents chosen for ca rryin g out this plan ;
and tho ugh it c annot b e demonstrated that they had an
act u al p art in the business the sche m e surely was one
,

quite consonant with th e s p irit o f their o rder The p l an .

was shrewdly c ontrived It d ealt with po liti c al c o nsidera

.

tions a ffecting England th e native home o f freemasonry ;

,

and thus the conspiracy ai med so to sp eak at c aptu rin g

, ,
“ ”
the den o f th e dragon of illuminism Th e Stua rt d y .

n asty which had returned to th e Cat holic fold was in

, ,
 M Y S TE R I A

exile fro m the en d o f th e 1 7 th centu ry b ut aided b y , ,

France materially and by R ome intellectually wa s ever ,

striving to regain th e lo st throne The e fforts o f kings and .

kings son s in exile po sses s a po eti c al an d romantic

’

qu ality It was p ossible to win over all symp athetic e n

.

th u s i a s ts b y exploiting their foibles the nobles an d l e i ti

g ,

mists (the Tories) by preachi ng legitimacy and the whol e ,

body o f th e Catholics by appealing to their loyalty to the

Church Now th e masonic ord er was a se c ret so cie ty
.
, ,

and as such o f course was a rallyin g point for all e n

, ,

th u s i a s t s mystics and dreamers

, , B esides the nobility .
,

was strongly represented in the so c iety : afte r the first

four grand m asters o f the Grand Lodge o f England who ,

were all p ractical masons (archite c ts) all the suc c eeding
“

grandmasters belonged to th e highest nobility of the

realm A mong them we find dukes o f Mo ntague Rich
.
,

mond Norfolk Chando s to say nothing o f a lon g series

, , ,

of vi scounts earls and marquises As for th e Catholic

, ,
.

element it had many things in co mmo n with F re e m a

,

so n ry
— ceremonies and mysticism hierarchic degrees and , ,

co smop ol itan extension ; he n ce with a little Jesuit finesse, ,

the order might gradually and insensibly b e made Gatho

li c as had b een done with the B uddhist ceremonial in
,

India : in thi s way the So ciety of Saint John might b e trans

fo rmed into a preparatory school for the So ciety of J esus .

And now if we consider what a scandal it must have b een

,

t o th e coronetted chi e fs o f F re m a s o n ry that their order

originated among m echanics we can see how easy it ,

wo u ld b e by dishing up a few fables in p roo f of a nobler

,

origin to make converts o f them fo r any ends whatever

,
.

I n th e event of su c cess th e st ronghold o f illuminism would

,

b e cap tured and w ith the help of its forme r champ ions
,

the most p owerful kin gdom in Europe and a gre at ,

 S E C R E T S OC IE TI E S O F I S TH C E N TU R Y 1 99

centre o f illu m inism would b e g i ven b ack to a Ca tholi c

,

King and thereby t h e road to con q uest op ened for the

,

Church of Rome O f course these vast desi gn s could

.
,

not b e carried out all at once The work had to pro ceed b y .

stages as thus : 1 Ari sto cratic sentiment woul d be grati

,
.

fi e d by the institution of higher masonic degrees ; 2 These .

degrees wo u ld b e connected with the religious o rders o f

knighthood by a chain o f fable ; 3 O b stinate Protestants .

would b e quiete d by the o ffer o f a cryptic Catholicism

whi c h ap p arently wo u ld b e i n accordance with their own
beliefs ; 4 Person s inaccessible to religious consideration s
.

wo uld be in fluenced by hopes o f riches to b e acquired

thro u gh th e secret arts of al c hemy and the like ; 5 The ,
.

whole p urpos e of t h e order woul d b e dire ct ed toward

sp iritual and Catholi c ends ; finally 6 when the pro cess , ,

was completed there would stand forth in al l its n aked

,

ness the savage fu ry o f the Inquisition .

3 . TH E HI G H D E G R E E S S W IN D L E .

Witho ut any su ffi c ient reason assigned t h ere arose ,

in England b etween the years 1 74 1 and 1 74 3 a new de

gree Royal Arch at first as a high er division o f the
, ,
-

’
master s degree afterward as an indep endent degree Its .

content was a hotchpotch o f New T estament p assages re ,

l i g i o u s dogmas and masonic or rather u n m as o n i c i a

, , , ,

b les Its tradition went back to the b uildin g of th e sec

.

ond Temp le o f Jerusalem after the retu rn fro m B ab yl o ,

n i an captivity ; hence the pre sident o f a Royal Arc h lodg e

took the name o f Z er ubbab el and wo re a vesture o f scar ,

“ ”
let and purple The meeting was called a chapter ; the
.

three masonic degrees were du b b ed p ro b atio nary de

“

gr ees and soon on the title p age of th e rules of the

,
 M Y S TE R I A
’

degree was rep res e nted an ark with th e ins c ription ,

“ ”
Nulla Salus Extra (no safety outside) wh ereby we are ,

reminded that acco rding to Catho lic doctrine the ark

o f Noah was a typ e o f th e Church Afterward th e Royal .

Arc h d egree p ub l i s h ed a p rogram o f its work in which

'

masonry is divided into O p erative and Sp e c ulative and ,

the former su b divided into manual inst rumental an d , ,

”
scienti fic ; the aim o f the o rder was defined to be to
“
,

gather th e hum an race in one fol d under t h e great Shep

herd o f souls For th e rest the work o f this degree was
.
,

c hildish p lay .

Even b efore this fruit was b orne in En gland there ,

'
came into circ u lation in France how e r why nobody ,

knows a state m ent that Freemason ry arose in Palestine

,

durin g t h e Crusad e s an d was there consolidated with

,

th e Knights o f St J ohn ( Ho spitalers) wherefore the

.
,

lodges ca m e to b e called Sa int J ohn s lodges ; that after ’

th e Crusades the order was esta b lished in S c otland was ,

thence afterward intro du c ed into England and later into ,

other countries This histori c lie was o f course wel

.
, ,

comed by the nobles who were members o f the order ;

as for the many uneducated m embers who had b een
admitted into th e F re n ch lodges they we re easily de
‘
'

,
'

l ud ed . Thence forward there were H i gh D e grees o f al l

sorts in Fran ce And as the fab le assigned t o Scotlan d
.

the fore m o st place in th e history of m asonry th e highest ,

degre s b egan to b e known as Scottish or after th e name , ,

o f S c otland s patro n Saint Andrew Saint Andrew s de

’

, ,
’

’
grees and the lo d ges S cottish o r Saint Andrew s lod ges
,
.

I n their rite s of admi ssion they adopted from the tradi

tions of the English an d French ston emasons a lot of
myths about th e death o f H i ra m and taught the aspirant s ,

for admission to avenge that death th e meaning b eing ,

 S E C R E T S OC I E TI E S O F I 8 TH C E NTU R Y 201

that they were to avenge the expul sio n of the Stuarts ,

and th e wrongs done th e Catholic Church b y the Refe r

m ation and by illuminism .

B ut as degrees were multiplied the H iram myth no

longer su ffi c ed and for the higher step s it was ne cessar y
,

to have re c o urse to other myths M eanwhile it was .

seen that the story o f the consolidation o f th e Free

masons an d the Knights of Saint John would not work ,

for that knightly order was still in existence ; therefore if ,

the aristocrati c brethren were to have their vanity flat

t e re d recourse must b e had to a sup p ressed order of
,

knighthood True that was not pleasing to stri c t C ath o

.
,

l i c s but there was no alternative—and a bon d o f co n nec

,

tion had to b e formed be tween M asonry and the o rder of

the Templars —the h ereti cal Temp lars .

So here i s the story o f the relation o f th e Free

masons to the Templars : A few Temp lars fleeing fro m ,

—
pa pal and royal p erse c ution among the m Grand Co mp
—
troller H arris and M arshal Aumon t reach ed S cotl and “

and in that count ry in o rder to gain a liveli h ood worked

, ,

as co mmon masons Advised of the death o f the G rand

.

master Molay and o f his last wi ll wherein he ha d directed

, ,

the brethren to perp etuate th e ord er these fu gi tive kni ghts

,
“ ”
that same year established th e Fre m as o n s league ’
,

an d on the Scotch I sl e o f M u ll held the fi rst

”
chapter
in 1 3 1 4 N o w to say nothing of the fact that as we shall
.
, ,

see the sto ry took more than one diffe rent shap e after
, .

ward it is o n oth er grounds quite un wo rthy o f b elie f It

, .

i s b eyond quest ion that documentarily the Freemas on

leagu e c an assign for itself no other o ri gi n but the c on
s t i t ut i o n o f the Grand Lodge o f Engl an d in 1 1 B ut
7 7 .
,

b esides th e story is ridiculo u s not o nly in that H arris

, ,

and Au m ont are p urely fictitio us p ersonages but also ,

 M Y S TE R I A ‘
.

in t hat the G rand Lodge o f Scotland an d the oldest l o dges

o f that an c ient kingdo m know nothing o f any su c h crea
tion o f a so c iety ; an d furthe rmore the ob j ects and th e
, ,

sentiments o f Te m plaris m and mason ry di ffer too widely

for any uni fic ation to take place b etween them I n the .

on e body free thinkin g th rough levity o f temp erament :

in th e other re p udiation o f o dium th eo l o gi cu m out of
love o f fellowmen ; on one side egoti sm : o n the other ,

regard fo r the general weal ; on one side pride o f aris

'

t o c ra cy : o n the other regard only fo r the dignity o f man

hood .

And yet the most eminent men of the 1 8 th century

were fooled into b elieving that th e Freemasons are de
scended fro m the Templars Th e first seri o us and formal
.

introduction of spurious Templarism into m asonry took

pl ace in Fran ce The Chevalier de B oneville on Novem
.
,

ber 2 4 1 764 founded at Pari s a ch a pter of th e h i gh de

’
‘
, , ,

grees called (app are n tl y in honor o f the th en grand

master o f Freemaso ns Loui s de B ourb on c ount of
, ,

“
Clermo nt) th e Clermont chapter its members were for ,

the most p art p artisan s o f th e Stuarts and th ere fore o f

, ,

the Jesuits also H ere it was that the story o f the won
.

d ro u s transformation of Templ ars into Fre e m asons in

Scotla nd was invented taught and employed as p art o f
, ,

the ceremonial o f admission to the highe r degrees Th e .

m emb ers wore th e masoni c togs and in their ritual the ,

death o f the Grandmaster Molay too k th e pla c e o f that .

of Hiram ; and i n fact by H i ra m as some asse rted

, , , ,

Molay was m eant Fro m this chapter the influen c e of

.

the Jesuits extended soon over th e whol e fi eld o f French

Freemasonry Surely it was not by ac c ident no r o ut of
.
,

patriotism that the very next vear th e French Grand

Lodge till then dependent on England declared itself
, ,
 S E C R E T S O C I E TI E S O F I S TH CE N TU R Y 203

independent and adopted statutes according to which

,

“ ”
t he Scottish Masters ( unknown both in England an d
Scotland) were to have oversight o f the work .

4 . AP
’
O ST L E S‘
OF

Soon the craze s p read furthe r still a n d first o f ‘

, ,

course through Germany where in those degenerate

, , ,

d ays whatever bore the Fren ch stam p was received wi th

,

reverence and conscientiously a p ed Th e Scottis h lodges .

got entrance into B erlin as early as 1 742 The d u bious .

honor o f this importation belongs to B aron E G von . .

Marschall who had b een initiated into the n ew Templar

,

ism at Paris Dying soo n afterward he was succeeded by

.
,

a man who p resented the c u rious sp ectacle o f noblest and

most strenuous endeavor toward a fantastic goal o f the ,

nature o f wh i c h he knew nothing Charles Gotthilf I m

.
.
.
,
'

p erial B aron o f H und an d A l t e n g ro t t k au ( so h e was

styled ) bo rn in 1 7 2 2 was a nobleman o f Lusatia and
, ,

actual p rivy councilor o f the Empero r ; h e was a man o f

n a rrow mind without high educ ation b ut he was an
, ,

idealist a chivalrous ho spitable an d kindly gentleman

, , .

At Paris he was received into the Catholic Church and

into the s p uriou s order o f Tem p lars to which h e was de ,

“
voted heart and soul : he was commissioned M as ter o f
”
the H ost in Germany H e founded a lodge on one of .

his estate s which bore the ominous name o f Unwurde

,

( unwo rth ) and soon had

, several su b ordinat e lodges u nder
hi s j urisdiction .

“
Ab out this time says a contemporary writer the , ,

S even -Y ears War broke o ut Th e Fren ch tr0 0p s c am e .

into Ge rm any an d with them m an y J e s u i ts With the

'

, .

Fren ch Army an d particularly in its Co mmiss ariat were a

, ,

r e
g at man y Freemason s o f the higher degrees and some ,
 M Y S TE -R I A
’
.

o f thos e gentlemen h ad calculated to make a go o d deal

‘

o f money by the sale o f merch andise in Germ any I kne w .

one Frenc h co mmissary wh o h ad a whol e wago nload o f

d e c o rations for som e forty fi ve degrees and these he p ed
-
,

d l e d all the way fro m Strasb urg to H amburg Th ere .

a fter no Germ an lodge was any longer c ontent with th e

three symboli c degrees but nearly every one o f them had
,

a s eries o f h igher degrees of one brand or another a cc ord ,

ing to the p articular wind b ag each fell victim to ; and so

they d ropped one system and took up anothe r wh en a
n ew ap o stle c am e that way and reformed them
‘ ”
.

Such a n ap ostl e o f fra u d was the M ar q uis de Ler

nais or L e rn ey Taken p riso ner of war to B erlin h e
.
,

there made known the Jesuiti cal do ctrine o f the Chapter

o f Clermont and even founded a c h apter in the Gran d
,

Lodge o f the Three World Spheres To sp read these -

.

c hap ters over the rest o f G erm any or in plain terms to , , ,

give the whole co u ntry into th e h ands o f th e J esuits a ,

character by no mean s ambigu ous on e Philip Samuel ,

Ros a o nce a Protestant cl ergyman counsel t o th e c o n s i s

, ,

tory an d sup erintendent but afte rward dep osed for 1m

, ,
’
mo ral ity wa s employed Ro sa s whole endeavor was to
,
.

make m o ney J oining the Chapter of Cl erm ont he got

.

the title Kn ight o f J erusalem and Prior of the Chapter o f

“

”
H alle As h e traveled up and down th e land the lodge
.
,

at H all e pai d hi s exp en ses The eyes o f the deluded .

b rethre n were at last op ened o n th e dis cov ery o f the re

,

l at i o n s b e t ween Ro sa and another swindler one Leu c hte , ,

wh o p almed hims e lf o ff as an En g lishman B aron J ohn ,

son and wh o fo unded a G rand Chapte r admitted novices

, ,

an d k n i gh t s l ) o a s t e d o f armies and fleets at his comman d

, ,

and sent fo rth to all Templars in Germany an encyclical

letter summoning them t o his standard M any were h i s .
 SE CRE T S OC IE TI E S O F I S TH C E N TU R Y 205

dupe s am ong them Rosa who visited him at J ena hum

, , ,

bled himself befo re him and consented to the expulsion ,

”
o f the B erlin chapter fro m the order “
B ut as Ro sa was .

loth to admit at Halle his submission to Johnson an d ,

counseled the knights there not to recogn ize J ohnson

“ ”
,

h is double dealing was b etrayed to his dup es at H al le by

-

the B aron and he was dis m issed fro m their servi ce in

”
,

disgra ce The Baron himself after the dis c overy o f hi s

.
“ ”
,

frauds was repudiated by his followers an d in 1 765 was

, ,

imp ri soned in th e famous castle o f W artb urg and there ,

remained till his death in 1 77 5 , .

This was t h e o pp o rt u n i tv o f the B aron von H un d ,

th e D o n ! uixote o f the 1 8 th centu ry H e b ecame now .

“
th e acknowledged head o f th e order and ruled it as ,

hi s fan c y dictated H e always sp oke o f Unknown Supe .

”
riors o f th e order as though his p olicy was guided by
them ; b ut the Sup e riors who imposed e d the guilele s s
“ ”

gentleman were the intri guants at Paris B e c ause o f the .

unconditional obedience required o f th e memb e rs H u nd ,

called the system o f the o rder that o f Stri c t O b servan c e ,

“

in c ontradistinctio n to the lax ob servance o f o rdinary

“ ”

Freemasons The Stri c t O b ser vanc e c omprised seve n

. .

degrees ; viz th e th re e m asonic degrees the degre e o f th e

.
, ,

S co ttish; M aster that of th e Novice that o f the Knight

, ,

Tem p lar fina l ly the degree o f t h e E que s P ro fe ss us or

'

, ,
“ ”
Professed Knight (one who has p ro fessed o r taken the
‘

m onasti c vo ws l) All knights assumed Latin names or

.

s urna m es H und was E q ues ab Ense (knight o f the

.

s w o rd ) ; o thers were Knight of the Sun of the Lion o f , ,

the Star even o f the W hal e o f the Chafer o f the

, , ,

Golden Cra b of the Mole et c Soo n Stri ct O b servan c e

, , .

was dominant in the Ge rm an lodges while genuine Free ,

m aso nry was forgotten No les s th an twenty-six G erm an .

 M Y S TE R I A
’

p rin c e s j oined th e o rder and so p uffed up were its dirc e

'

tors i n c onsequen c e that forthwith they divided Eu ro p e

up into provin c es after the manner o f the Templar s and
,

the J esuits na m ing for each p rovin c e a Master o f the

,

Ho st T he sub division s o f p rovinces were call ed as

.
,

a mong the Templars Priories Prefectures Comptroller

, , ,

ship s etc , To give these subdi visions something more

.

than an existen ce on p ap er H und disp atched the B aron ,

G A von Weiler Knight o f the Golden Ear (o f whe at

. .
, ,

barl ey et c ) to Fran c e an d Italy wh ere he founded several

, .
,

chap ters : even the Grand O ri ent o f France united itself

with the Stri c t O b se rvan c e Toward those Ge rman .

l odges whi ch held alo of fro m this b astard mason ry the

H u n d i an Templars were supremely disdain ful and but ,

few of the lod ges had th e spirit to sp eak out against the
”
O b s c urantist innovations
“
Chief among the few was the .

gallant o ld Lodge of Unity at Fran k fo rt o n the M ain ,

‘

whic h de c l are d itself an En glish p rovinc ia l lodge to

‘

show its independence o f p seudo Templarism -

.

A zealous ap o stl e o f the Stri ct O bse rvan ce was J o hn

Christian S chubart o f Kleefeld Knight o f the O stri c h , ;

who was consta ntl y on the road co nverting lodges to

that system S c hubart devised a plan by which the o rder
.

’
was to acquire great wealth H und s finan cial a ffairs .

were in c o n fusi on in con se quence o f the war and he p ro

, ,

p osed to b equeath his prop erty to the order in co nsidera ,

tion o f a certai n sum in cash : b ut the order had n o t the

'

money S chubart now propo sed to exact enormous fee s

.

for initiations an d admissions to high degree s ( for ex am

ple 3 50 thalers for admission ) B ut the s cheme could
,
.

not b e wo rk ed an d S c hu b art withdr ew fro m th e order

,
. .

The order had no longer any use for Hund Th e .

time had c o m e for the J esuit influen ce to as s ert itself : it

 S E C R E T S O C I E TI E S O F I S TH C E N TU R Y 207

would have no more fooleries with helmets s wo rds ac , ,

c o u tre m e n t s and Templar s m antles It was seen by the

’
.

original p roj e c tors o f the o rder that if they would suc

“ ”

c e e d i n their design o f winning over Freemason ry to the

p la n of c a t h o l i z i n
g Germany they must b etimes
,
provide a
cl e rical directorate for the organization which till now h ad ,

worn the m ask o f knighthood They found a c onveni ent .

instrument in the person o f the Protestant theologian ,

John -Augustus von Stark bo rn at Schwerin in 1 74 1 ,

.

While a st u dent in Go ett i n g en Stark was admitted ( 1 76 1 )

to the masoni c order ; then he wa s a teacher in Peters
b urg where he adopted the mysti c syste m of on e M ele
,

sino a Greek The ceremonial o f M e l s i no s syste m

,
.
’

comprised a number of p rayers and g e n u fl e cti o n s an d ,

even a mass ; the high degree meetings were called Con

-

claves an d the m
, emb ers wo re s u rp l i ce s La ter at Pari s .
, ,

Stark took an interest in O riental manu scripts and j oined ,

the Catholi c Church b ut all the same on his return home

, ,

he served as p rofessor o f theolo gy at Koenigs berg and ,

then as c ourt p reacher and gene ral ec clesiastical sup er

i n t en d en t in th e same city an d aft e rward i n ; D armst ad t
,
.

Through so m e a c qua intances who were members o f th e ,

Strict O b servance he got an introduction to H und to

, ,

who m he revealed the great se c ret which he had learned

at Petersburg namely th at the grand mysteries o f the
, ,

Templars were revealed not to the knights b ut only to ,

the c lerical members and that these mysteries had been

,

kept and handed down to that time ; furt her tha t th e true ,

chief of the order o f Templars was none other but the

Knight of th e Golden Sun Charle s Edward Stuart the , ,

Pretender then resident in Florence D elighted at the

, .

pro sp e c t o f an enhan c ement o f w h at h e fanc ied to b e hi s

sci enc es H und r e c o gnize d Star k an d two o f Stark s
,
’
 M Y S TE R I A

fri end s as Cleri c s o f th e O rder o f Templ ars . Th ese cl eri i

c al Templ ars thereupon d rew up a c eremonial and c reated

degrees o f their own and as a sp ecial favo r initiated some
,

se cu lar knights into their mysteries B ut b e ca u s e H und .

de c lined to a cc ommodate Stark with a loan of two hun

dred thalers to defray th e expenses o f a j o u rney to Peters
b urg where Pylades head of th e Templar clerics resided
, , , ,

th e t wo fell o ut an d Stark announ c ed h i s purpo se to

,

keep th e Cleri c ate indep endent o f the O rder

“ ” ”
Ne ver .

t h el e s s he begged a friend to negotiate o n his b ehalf with

,

th e se c ular Temp l ars This friend was a noble personage

.
,

Ernest Werner von Raven Knight o f the Pearl a w eal th y , ,

lando wner p rio r i n the o rder m ember o f a Chapter

“ ”
,
“ ”
,

under Rosa and H und and also an initiate in Stark s

’

own cleri c al order of Templars Like H und he was a .

,

m an o f honor b ut vain and narrow minded a mystic and

,
-
,

an al c hemist Raven in 1 772 attended a convention held

.
, ,

at Kohlo in Lu satia for the p urp os e o f b rin gi ng a b o u t

, ,

an understanding b etween th e Knights an d the cleri cs .

H e app eared in the costume o f t h e Temp lar cleri cs viz ; ,

.

white casso ck with red cro ss o n t h e b re as t an d a hat like

‘

that: of a cardinal H e p resented t o the meeting a p ro

.

j e ct of unio n drawn up b y Stark whi c h the knights re ,

c ei ve d wi t l i p l audits o f satisfa c ti o n H und wa s dep os e d ‘

.

fro m hi s high o ffi c e and appointe d o n e o f t h e Masters

,

of th e H ost while D uke Ferdinand o f B runswick wa s

,

m ad e Gran dmaster an d other p rinc es were named to b e

,

Sup eriors; and Protectors under him .

B ut th e ritual isti c p o mp o f th e Clerics had already

awakened suspicion in th e minds o f t h e Protestant m e m
b ers and they began to cry out against mysteries of
,

forei g n origin and a gainst the dictation o f unknown

Sup eriors Th i s disc o ntent found exp ression in the con
.
 S E C R E T S O CI E TI E S O F I S TH C E N TU R Y 209

ven ti o n held at B r unswick in 1 7 7 5 There H und was ,

.

questioned as to the legitimacy of his appo intment as a

M aster o f the Ho st an d the Clerics as to th e authenti c ity
o f their myste ries H und was deposed fro m o ffi ce ; the
.

following year h e died o f a broken h eart and c lothed in , ,

the regalia of M aster o f the Ho st wa s interred in the ,

church at M el ri ch s s tad t i n front of th e al ta r Th e s eat .

o f the Grandmaster was fixed permanently at B ru nswi c k .

Thu s the machinations o f the Jesuits seemed to hav e

come to n aught B ut now they sent forth a n ew ap ostle
.
,

a man who was an enigma who se p lace of birth and o f ,

death are unknown and who himself admitted to his con,

fi d an t s that he was an agent o f th e J esuits Gugo m o s .

such was hi s na m e—styled b aro n and p rofessor o f art ,

an d as a memb er of th e Strict O b servance Knight o f the

Triumphant Swan in 1 776 in hi s cap acity as dignita ry o f
, ,

the o rder o f Templ ars with a long string o f titles invited ,

the Grandmaster th e D irectorate and the Prior o f the

, ,

Cleri c s to attend a conventio n at Wiesb aden in order a s , ,

he s aid to instruct them in the genuine Templarism

,
.

“ ”
And many Knights ob eye d this singul ar invitation ,

among them several p rinces Gu go mo s m ade loud .

b o asts of the great numb er o f mysteries into whi ch he

had been initiated and in telling o f them used phrases
,

and term s that remin d us strongly of the E xerci ti a

S p i ri tua li a ; he exhibited his insi gni a and the c ommission
of a Most H oly See in Cyprus ; and de c lared that
“ ”

the O rde r to which he b elonged and o f which th e ancient ,

order of Temp lars was only an o ff sho o t was founded by ,

Mo ses whose suc cessors in the o ffice o f Grandmaster had

,

been Egyptian Judean and other kings Grecian p h i l o s o

, , ,

p h e r
,s Chri st himself and his apo stles finally po p es Th e ,
.

Te m pl ar su cc ession he said had b ee n pe rpetuated in

, ,
 M Y S TE R I A .

Cyp rus (not in S c otland th en ) an d the archbishop s o f

, ,

Cyp rus were th e successors o f the G ran dm asters The

degree s o f Free ma s o nry (thu s h e driveled on ) wer e a
later innovation on the o riginal cl eri c al an d knightly sys
tem whi c h in its organizati on was he said ex actly the
, , ,

sa m e as the Jesuit o rder The one thing needed in o rde r

.

to instruct m en in the o cc ult s cien c es was a holy templ e .

O n the comp letion of su c h a temple th e n atural fire

“ ”

woul d fall fro m he aven etc M an y person s reco gnized

, .

th e fraud ; others walked into th e trap and were initiated ,

.

B ut seeing how little confidence was placed in him Gugo ,

mo s ab s c onded an d that was the end of J esuit Free

,

masonry .

B ut th e farce of Templa rism lived a few years yet ,

though p e 0p 1e were growing tired of it Some o f th e .

mem b ers went b ack to the old fas hi oned m asonry ; others
-

turned to new lights of mystici sm that ha d for some tim e

been l o oming o ut th e horizo n —the Swedish Rite an d th e
N ew Ro si c ru c i anis m .

5 . TH E S W E D ISH R IT E ’
.

Swe dish Freemasons as early as the m iddle of the

,

1 8 th c entury had found the genuin e English masonry t o o

,

simpl e and inornate : they longed for more glitter and

p omp mysteries and degrees King Gust avus I I I at
,
. .

te m pted to satisfy this want by con c octing a new system

th e in gredients b eing genuine freemasonry th e Stri ct O b ,
”
servan ce and th e system then known at Rosi cru c i anism
,
“
,

an d in largest p roportio n the Clermont system : th e doc

trin es of the famous m ysti c and seer Swedenborg may , ,

al so have give n a flavo r to th e compound I n founding .

the Swedi sh Rite or System Gustavus co unted on obtai n

,

mg the he lp o f th e m em b ers in hi s e ffort to rid himself

!
 S E C R E T S O C I E TI E S O F I S TH C E N TU R Y 21 1

o the party o f the nobles Th e Sw e dish Rite has t en

f .

degrees It is founded on two stories one that certain

.
,

secrets have descended to it from Chri st thro ugh the

Ap o stles the cleri cal Templars and the Freemasons ; the
, ,

other that a nephew o f the Grandmaster B eaulieu a

, ,

p redecessor o f Molay visited M olay in prison and at the

, , ,
’
suggestion o f Molay went down into his uncle s sepulchr e
, ,

where in a casket he found th e insignia and the records

, ,

o f the order ; that from Paris h e took these into Scotland ,

and thence into Sweden The symbols of the higher de .

grees refer to Templarism and Catholicism The cere .

monies o f the highest degre e are s aid c lo sely to re sembl e

the m ass O ther alleged usages are the wearing o f the
.
,

red cro ss of the Templars on the breast reciting every ,

’
night Saint B ernard s prayer to the Lamb o f God fasting ,

on Good Fri day till sundown then eating three sli c es o f ,

bread with oil and salt The title of the head o f th e

, .

System is Vi car of Solo mon S everal distin guished .

memb ers o f the Swedish System among them the cele ,

b rat e d poet J H Voss have chara c teri z ed its c ere m onie s

. .
,
“ ”
as vain useles s and ridiculous
,
.

6 . TH E N E W R O SI CR U C I A N IS M '
A ND AL LI E D SY S T E M S .

Th e New Rosicrucianism had its ri se in Southern

Germany ab out the year 1 760 while Rosa and J ohnson ,

were busy with their systems Its o riginators had no .

connection with Freemasonry and o f its nine degrees ,

not even the first three were name d after the m asoni c
degrees Several discontented members of the Strict
O b servance j oined the new order The memb ers as .

sumed fanciful names as Fo eb ro n O rm e s u s C ed ri n u s

, , ,
“ ”
the lodge s were called Circles Un questioning obedi .

en c e was to b e rend ered to th eESupe riors The m em b ers

-
‘
.
 M Y S TE R I A .

learned only the myste ri e s of their own particular c i rc le .

“ ”
The motto was : M ay God an d H i s Wo rd be with us .

They claimed to po sses s a crypti c Book containing a

sacred histo ry of events pri o r to the creation o f the world ,

esp e cial ly o f th e Fall o f the Angels .

Their sp eci alty was a mystical kab b alistic and totally , ,

ab surd inte rp retatio n of the B ibl e and o f other allege d ,

sacred or o ccult writi gs whence they d educed an ex

n
,

p lanation o f the universe For example they taught

.
,

t hat th e planet s an d th e other heavenly bodies reflect

b ack on the sun th e light they receive fro m him thus ,

conserving his might an d hi s splendo r They also p rac .

ticed n ecrom ancy exorcization alche my the art of m ak

, , ,
-x

ing gold of preparing the elixir o f life : they studied such

,

p roblems as th e p roduction of the noble metal s fro m rain

water urine and other b odies and even o f evolving h u
, , ,

man b eings by ch emical p ro cesses In their assemblie s .

the m embers wore white and black scarfs b ut tho se o f ,

the higher degree s wo re priestly vestments with cro sses ,

o f silver or gold At the initiation th e candid ates swore

.

fearful oaths Asp irants to the ninth de gree were as

.

sured that o nce they should attain that eminence they .

’
would understand all nature s secrets and possess suprem e
'

control o f angels devils and m en The first prophet

, ,
.

o f the New Rosicr ucianis m was John George S ch rep fe r ,

co ffee house ke ep er in Leip si c

-
In 1 77 7 he fo unded in
.

his own shop a lodge o f th e S cottis h Rite to a fford hi s ,

custo mers a better styl e o f masonry than was found in

the ordinary lo dges The D uke o f Courland p rotector
.
,

o f on e o f the masonic lodges had the man p ubli cly ,

b astinadoed : b ut S ch rep fer shortly afterward in spired

both hi m an d the D uke o f B runswick with a curiosity to
b e instructed in th e mysteries and vi sited them at D res
,
 SE C R E T S OCI E TI E S O F I S TH CE NTU R Y 213

den and at B runswick I n hi s lodge h e gave demonstra

.

tions of hi s s up ernatural powers as a magi cian and a

necromancer : for examp le h e wo u ld summon up sp i rits ,

of the d e ad Puffed up by success S c h rep fer indulged in

.
,
‘

al l man ner o f debauchery and at last was reduce d to ,

p enu .ry H e died by his own hand aged 35 years ,

.

B ut Ro sicrucianism was yet to rea c h its high est p oint ,

which it did in th e person of John Christopher Wo el l n e r

( born at Spandau 1 7 3 2 ordained

,
p reacher ,
1 759 a co u n ,

c i l o r in the Pr u ssi an se rvice in 1 7 66 and Minister o f State ,

1 78 8 ; deceased an d John Rudolf B ischofswerder .

( born in Th u rin gi a 1 7 4 1 ch a mberlai n to the Ele

, c to r of
Saxony ; maj or in the P russian army 1 7 72 ; minister at
wa r 1 7 68 ; deceased Not content with the hono r
o f being Knight of t h e Griffi n in the Strict Ob servan ce ,

B ischofswe rder went in search o f an order that p r acti ced

the m a gi c art and was s o fortunate as t o find it in th e
,

New Rosicruc i anism H e was initiated into the mysteries

.

by S c h rep fer and it was he who converted th e D uk e o f

,

Courland fro m an enemy i n to a fri e n d o f the co ffeehouse

Ro s i c ru c i an After the death of S ch rep fe r who se most
t
,

zealo us supporter he had b een B ischofswerde r obtained ,

pro motio n in the Prussian service through the favo r o f

the crown p rince Frederi c William ne p hew o f Frederi c ,

the Great and sh ared hi s goo d fortune wi th Wo e l l n e r

, .

Knight of the Cube who lik e himsel f had seceded fro m

,

Temp larism The p air won the crown princ e over to

.

Rosicrucianism and en j oyed h is confiden c e b oth then

,

an d after h i s accession to the throne o f Pru s si a in 1 7 8 6 ,

as William I I At last as ministers of state they suc

.
, ,

c e e d e d in s u bstitutin g ob s curantism and state religio n

ism in the p lace of the ill u minism and toleration that

had prevailed under old Fritz It was they that dictated .
214 M Y S TE R I A

th e odious Edict o f Religion o f 1 788 wh ich was expe c ted ,

to p rove a d e athblow to illuminism and fre e thought : b u t

the death o f the King upset all thei r cal cul ations That . .

was the end o f th e N ew Ro sicrucian ism .

Si m ul taneously with the order o f the Rosi c rucian s

aro se two variant form s of the same the soc iety o f the ,

Asiat i c B rethren an l that of th e Afri can B u i l d i n g m as ters

,

(Asiatische B ru ed er Afrikani sch e ,

Th e
Asiati c B re th re n s order was founded in Vienn a b y B aro n
’
.

H ans Henry von Eckhofen an ex Rosicrucian : it ad ,

-

m i tt e d only Freemasons but did not exclude Jews and

, ,

its aims were the sa m e as tho se of th e Ro sicru ci ans Its .

chief seat was at Vienna called by them Th ess alonica

, ,

for they gave a foreign n ame to ev ery p lac e Its head .

o ffi cers were styled I n quisitors The re were five degrees

.
,

viz t wo probationary—tho s e of Seeker s and o f Su fferers

.
,

— and three sup eri o r degree s The memb ers in th e two

.

lower degree s wo re round bla c k hats with distin ctive

feathers for ea c h degree b lac k mantles and white or
, ,

black ribbons b roidered wi th di fferent emblems ; t h e s e

,

in the higher degrees wore red hats and mantles ; the at

tire o f tho se in th e high est degree was all ro sy red Ten -
.

memb ers constituted a M astership ten mastership s a D e c ,

ade and so on
,
Th e o rder b ecame sho ckingly corrupt
.

in Austria .

The Afri ca n soc iety fo unded by War Cou n c ilor

,

Koepp en in B erlin h ad rather higher aims than th e Rosi

,

cruci an s and th e Asiati c B rethren : they s tu d i e d th e his o

t o ry o f Freemason ry admitted to their order only sch olars

,

an d artists ,
conducted their business in Latin and of ,

fe re d p rizes for s cientifi c researche s : b ut they indulged in

farfe tch ed an d ab surd symbo lism kabb alism magic and , , ,

mysticism Th eir degrees were five inferior or p repara

.
 S E CRE T S O C I E TI E S O F I S TH C E N TU R Y 215

to ry and five high er or esoteric Th e order live d fo r a

, .

few years only .

Th ere were many other so c ieties instituted mo stl y ,

for the p urp o se o f fraud an d moneymaking : o f these we

give no account here B ut there still remain s one society
.

—
w h ich i s wo rthy of mention that of the Brethren o f the
Cro ss ( Kreu zb ru e d er) or D evotee s o f the Cross ( Kreuz
fromm e) founded by Count Christian von H aug wi tz
,

( 1 7 52 who wa s at on e time Knight o f th e H oly

Mount in the Strict O bservanc e afterward belonged to a ,

German imitation o f the Swedish rite and at last founded ,

“
a so ciety which was describ ed by a contemp orary as a
cons p iracy of des p otism against liberty of vice against ,

vi rtue of stup idity again st tal ent o f darkness against e u

, ,

Th e D ev otees o f the Cro ss observed the

”
l i gh t e n m e n t .

strictest secrecy corres p onded in cipher inveigled prin c es

, , ,

in order to rul e i n their stead ( after th e ma nner of B is

c h o fs w e rd e r an d Wo e l l n er) and pra c ticed al l manner of

sup erstition s to make an end of science They had no .

connectio n whatever wi th Freemasonry .

Unfortunately thi s multi p li c ation o f mystical orders

wa s n o t without e ffect on the fo rtunes of the masonic b ody ,

“ ”
in that it has led to a vicious growth o f high degrees .

It was a Fre n ch ad venturer S t ep h eni Morin who in , , ’

,

1 76 1 ,
introduced into the United States the 3 3 degrees :
they entered France again in 1 8 03 an d were regarded as ,

a n ovelty having been forgotten during the Revolution

,
.

The titles of these degree s are at o nce bombastic and un

m eaning : Grand Scots Kni ghts of the East H igh Princes
, ,

o f Jerusalem Princes of Gr ace Grand In q uisitors Prin c es

, , ,

of the Royal Secre t etc and in som e of the variation s

;
.
,

of these ridic u lous degrees we have Knights o f the Ap e ,

and of the Lion and Em p eror o f Ea st and West

,
.
 P AR T E LE V E N TI I .

Th e I l l um i n a ti an d Th e i r E ra .

1 . TH E ILL U M I NA TI
- .

B y th e supp ressio n o f the J esuit order b y Cl e m ent

X IV the results of two centuri es of painful toil in th e
.
,

interest o f a univ ersal e cclesiasti c al dom i nion were u n

done Then it was that an ingenious mind co n ceived th e
.

thought o f emp loying on b ehalf of enlightenment such

instrum entality as the J esuits had emp loyed against it .

It was a pup il of the J e suits to who m this thought first

o ccurred : their mechanical soul s ti fl i n g method o f educ a
,
-

tion had mad e him their enemy ; but besides he had

learned t h e artifi c e s and the secrets of the Jesuits and ,

ho p ed that by imitating th em in a Catholi c country

likely to b e influenced by such arts he might thereby ,

p romot e the ve l y oppo site interests Ada m Weishaupt

.

was born in 1 748 and when only 2 5 ye ars o f age wa s p ro

,

fe s s o r of canon law and j urisprudence i n the university o f

Ingolstadt and also lecturer o n histo ry an d philosop hy
, ,

b eing the first in that institute to deliver le ctures in

the German language and in c o nsonance with the more
,

enlightene d sp irit o f the age Th e intrigues of the ousted

.

Fathers against their successor in a pro fesso ri al chai r

w hich th ey had h e ld for ne arly a centu ry forced to ma
t u ri ty t he thought which he h ad cherish ed from his
student days : and th e fo unding in the neigh b ori n g village
o f B urghausen of a lo d ge o f Ro si c ru c ians who wer e try ,

216
 ILLU M INA T I 217

ing to attract to the m selves his students decided h i m to ,

carry his idea into execution O n M ay 1 1 776 he .

, ,

founded the O rder o f Perfectibilists to which h e afte rward

gave the n ame I llumini sts ( Illuminati ) To pro p agate
‘

this institution an d to strengthen it he adopted measures

which in the circumstan ces of the time see m
,
ed not un ,

p ractical First he ado p ted entire the hier archic system

o f govern ment existing among the J esuits—desp otic rul e
.
,

from t o p to bottom ; secondly he employed Freemason ry ,

to p romote the ends o f his order j ust as th e Jes u its h ad ,

att e mpted to do Acco rd ingly Weis h aupt who was f u ll

.
,

o f vanity amb ition and desire o f reven ge b ut knew

, , ,

nothing of the true Freemason ry o nly o f its p erversions , ,

ob tained admission to th e order in a lodge in Munich .

Henc e it is not true that the Freemason s f o unded th e

leagu e of the I lluminati b ut rather than an order that
,

arose outside of the lodge sim p ly made use o f Free

masonry : and so to the defeated reactio n ary movement
against Freemasonry now succeeded an u n m as o n i c r evo
l ut i o n ary movement I n executing his pla n Wei s h aupt
.
'

was assisted mainly by Francis X avier von Zwack h of ,

Landshut councilor to th e government o f the B avarian

,

Palatinate a man initiated i n the highest degree s o f m a

, ,

so u ry Several years after its foundatio n the order o f

.

the I lluminati was still confined to South Germany or ,

even to B avar1a but as Weishaupt desired that the north

°

als o and Protestants no less than Cath olics should take

, ,

an interest in his institute he sent the Marquis Co s tanzo

,

von Co stanza B avarian chamberlain to Frankfort o n the

, ,
- -

M ain in 1 779 to win over to the order the lodges i n that

city. Costan zo himself h a d little suc cess th e ri c h ,

me rc h ants of Frankfo rt being averse to anything that

would unsettle the p eace o f th e world ; b ut a young man
218 M Y S TE R I A

whose acquaintan ce he made was destined to be after ,

Weishaupt the mo st e ffective pro moter of the new s o

,

c i e ty
. This was B aron Adolf von Knigge wel l kno wn ,

for his much read b ook Ue b er den Umgang mit M e m

.

s c hen ”
. H e was bo rn in 1 7 52 an d from his youth up ,

had been an amateur of sp iriti sm (gh o s t s e ers h i p) He .

was already an I nitiate o f the higher degrees o f th e Stri ct

Ob servan ce ; but dissatisfied with that order he ad o pted
, ,

the idea o f I lluminism enthusiastically and bro ught into ,

the system a number o f men wh o b e c ame its ap ostles ; for

examp le B ode the transl ator ; Franci s von D itfu rth as
, , ,

so ciate j ustice o f Weimar W ith thes e two Knigge at

, .

tended th e C o n ven tu s of VV il h el m s ba d and there cham ,

pioned th e c ause o f I llu m inism sto utl y an d help ed to ,

give the deathblow to Temp lari sm And now as Knigge

,
.
,

who suppo sed the o rder t o b e an an cient one entered ,

into a corre s pondence with Weisha up t h e was not a littl e ,

ast o nished on le arning fro m hi m that th e society wa s

as yet no more than an embryo : in fac t it had only the ,

degree o f the mino r Illuminates ( Kleine I lluminaten ) .

Nothin g dishea rtened however he j ou rneyed to B avar 1a

, , ,

an d was admitted to the o rder in sp lendid style B ut .

hi s lively fan cy led him to develop the order further ; a nd

the so b er mindel Weish aupt who se gi fts were tho se of th e
-
,

thinker rath e r t h an of the contriver o f forms l e ft to

'

Knigge the ela b oration o f th e seve ral degree s an d their

Lessons in whi c h b oth were agre ed th at al l usion s to the
,

fi re wo rs h ip an d l i gh two rs h i p o f the P ersians s h ould be

employed as typi c al o f the spiri tual fire and spi ritual light
,

o f I lluminism .

Th e groundwork of the polity o f the I lluminati was

as follows : A sup reme p resident ruled the whole h aving ,

n ext below hi m t wo o fficers each o f who m again had ,

 ILLU M I N A TI 219

two others under him and so on so tha t the first could , ,

most conveniently govern all The doings o f the order .

were kept most strictly secret Each memb er took t h e .

name of some historic o r mythic p ersonage o f distinction :

Wei shaupt was Sp art acus ; Zwac k h Cato ; Co stan zo D io , ,

mede ; Knigge Philo ; D itfurth M inos ; Ni c ola i Luci an

, , , ,

and so on Co untries an d cities also had pseu donyms :

.

Munich was Athen s ; Frankfort Edessa ; Austria Egypt ; , ,

F ran co n i a Illyria, and so forth I n corresponden ce the

,
.

memb ers used a secret ci p her numb ers taking th e

'

p lace of letters ; in reckoning time they followed t he

calendar o f the ancient Persia n s with the P ersian name s
o f months an d the Persian aera . .

"

The number o f degrees an d their designation s were

n ever d efinitely fixed hence they are di ff e rent in di fferent
,

localities . B ut all the account s agree that there were

three principal degrees The first of the se the S chool o f .
,

Plants ( P fl an z s c h u l e ) was design ed to rec eive youths ap

h i adult age The candid te fo r admi ssion was at
’

p r o a c n
g a .

first a Novice and except the one who indo ctrinated him
, , ,

knew no member o f the order H e was re q uired by .

,

s u bmittin g a detail e d acco unt o f his lif e with full p art ic u ,

lars as to all his doings and by keep ing a j o u rnal to , ,

p rove himself a fit sub j ect fo r admission and one likely ,

to be of service to the order Fro m t h e grade o f Novice .

he p assed to that of M ine rval Th e members o f the .

M inerval class form ed a sort o f learned so c iety which o c ,

c u p i e d itself with answering q u estion s in the domain o f

‘

morals Th e Minervals furthermore were re q uired to

.
, ,

make known what they thought of the o rder and what ,

they exp ected o f it and they assumed the obli ga tio n o f

,

ob edienc e They were under the eye of their s u peri or

.

officers read and wrot e whatever sup eriors required o f

,
220 M Y S TE R I A ’
.

them and spi ed on each other an d reported o n e an

, ,
’
other s faults to sup eriors as in th e Jesuit system The .

leaders o f the M in erv al s were call ed M inor I llu m inati ;

were taken b y surp rise at the meeting s o f t h eir degree
and nominated to tha t dignity—a method that wonderfully
stimulat ed ambition ; they were in s tructed in the man age
ment an d oversight o f their subj ects an d p racticed them ,

selves i n that art ; th ey were b esides required to rep ort

their exp erien ces Th e second p rincip al degre e was Free
.

mason ry through th e three original de grees o i w hich an d

,

the two s o called Sc ottish degrees the I lluminati passed ;

-

and strenuous e ffort was made to have the masonic lo d ge s

adopt a system agreeabl e to th e i deas o f the I lluminati ,

so that the memb ership o f the order might b e steadil y i n

cre ased Th e th ree o riginal degrees o f m asonry were i m
.

parted to th e regul ar I lluminati wi thout ce remonies The .

memb ers of the two Sc o ttish degrees were called Greater

I lluminati and th e task o f these wa s to study the char
,

a c t ers o f thei r fe l l o w m e m b e rs ; and D irigent I lluminati ,

who p resided over th e several divisions o f the illuministi c

masonry . The third and highest degree was th at o f the
Mysteries comprisin g th e four stages o f Priest Regent
, , ,

M agus and King (rex ) Thi s principal degree was elabo

.

rated only i n part and was not b rough t into use

, In .

these four division s of th e third d egre e the ends of th e

’
o rder were a cco rding to Knigge s p lan to b e ex p lained
, , .

The supreme he ads o f t h e seve ral divisions o f the order

were called A re o p agite s b ut their fu nc tion s wer e n ever
-
,

fully defined I t wa s p ropo sed also to add a dep artmen t

.

fo r wo men The aims o f thi s organization o f the I l l um i

.

nati remind us forcibl y o f those of the Pythagorean

'

Leagu e . They contempl ated not a sudden and violen t

,

but a gradual an d p ea c eful revolution in wh 1ch the ,

 ILLU M I N A TI 221

I llu m inism o f th e 1 8 th c entury sho ul d gain th e vi c tory .

Thi s revolution was to b e e ffected by winning for the o r

der all the considerable intell ectual force s o f the ti m e ,

though the n ew associates were only littl e by little to

learn what the aims o f the o rder were A n d inas m uch as .

the members when they sho uld have a m ong thei r num
,

b er all those forces must everywhere attain the highest

,

places in government th e triumph o f their enlightened

,

p rinc iple s could not b e for long delay ed I n the Sup erio r .

degrees the members were to b e taught as a grand se cret

o f the ord e r that the mean s whereby the redemptio n o f
’

mankind wa s one day to b e accomplished was Secret

Schools o f W isdom These would lift man out o f his
.

fallen estate ; these would with o ut violen ce sweep Prince s

, ,

and National boundaries fro m th e fa c e o f t h e earth and ,

co n s titute the human race one family every housefather ,

a priest an d lord o f his own an d Reaso n the o ne l awc o d e

,

o f m ankind . To imbue th e m inds o f men with these

principles illuminist book s were p res cri b ed to the m em
,
"

b ers for their reading I n sha rp co n trast to the m asoni c

.

system s in which Jesuits had had a hand the I lluminati ,

avoided all forms whic h might suggest ob edien c e to any

religion o r ch urch and welcomed wh atever favored the
,

do minan c e o f reason and the overthro w o f re velation .

I n the ve ry short p erio d o f i ts existence the order

o f the Illu m inati att ained a memb ership o f a re
sult very materially p ro moted by th e rul e th at any mem
b er p ossessing authority from th e sup eriors c o uld! admit
a c andidate . Among th e memb ers were m any men emi
n ent b oth so cially an d i n s c i en c e as th e dukes o f S axe
, ,

Go tha ( Ern est) B runswi ck ( Ferdi n a n d ) o f Saxe Weimar

, ,
-

( Cha r les Augustus whil e yet only hei r o f th e ducal

,

cro wn ) ; D alb erg who w as afte rward p rin c e b i shop ;

,
-
 M Y S TE R I A .
’

M o n tgi l as , aft er ward minister o f state ; President C ount

Geinshei m ; th e
celebrated philosopher B aader ; Pro
fe s so rs S e m m er o f I go l s tad t Moldenhauer o f Kiel
.

,
'

Feder of Go etti n gen ; the ed u ca tor Leuch s en ri n g

of D armstadt ; the Catholi c cathedral p reb endarie s
S c h ro e ck en s t e i n of Ei c h stadt and Schmelzer o f Mayen c e ;
Haefelin b isho p of M unich ; t h e authors B ah rd t B iester
, , ,

Gedike B ode Ni colai etc Go ethe H erder and p rob

, , , .
, ,

ably Pestalozzi also b elon ged to the o rder Th e lea gue .

“ ”
i n Wilh elm M ei ster reminds u s strongly o f t h e I l l um i
nati.

The o rder was n o t yet sp read abro a d b eyond the ”

G erma n bo rders th o u gh a few Frenchmen h ad b een ad

,
'

m i tt e d while vi siting Germany ; b ut its p l an s were al ,

~

re ady reaching out farther And now the hea d o f th e .

who l e organization was t o b e th e G eneral (as amon g the

J esuits) ; under him there was to b e in e ach country a
h ead o ffi c er th e N ational ; in ea c h p rincip al divi sion o f
,

a country a Provincial ; in subd i visions o f p rovinces a

Prefe c t and s o on
'

, .

This ap in g o f J esuit p olity and t h e i mp rudent admi s

sion o f ob j ectionable or indi fferent ch arac ters p rove d the
ruin of th e order D esp oti c rule and espionage coul d
.

never p romote th e cause o f liberty and enlightenment

and the fo un der o f the order propo s ed to ma k e enlighten
ment th e mean s of attai nin g li b e rty .

Then the dissensions ever growi ng more seriou s

between Wei s haup t and Knigge Whereas W eishaup t .

cared only for the ends of the society all else b ein g in his ,

eyes only in cid ental mere formalism Knigge on the

, , ,

other hand b eing a man of th e world shrank in horror

, ,
.

fro m th e p ro gram o f his asso ci ate : reli g ion mo rality

“

the State were imp e riled H e d readed Liberal ist b oo ks

. ,
 ILLU M I N A TI 223

and would have b een far better p leased to see the order
working on the lines o f the Freemasons o f that day ,

though with an elabo rate ceremonial and mani fol d de ‘

grees and mysteries and with so me harmless inno cent

, ,

ideal of human welfare and brotherly lov e a s the obj ect

o f their endeavors Weis h aupt c alled Knigge s p et con
.
’

t ri van c e tinsel and trump ery and child s p laythings and

’

the pair o f Areopagites grew steadily ever m o re asun

“ ”

der.

This rising storm within boded less ill to th e orde r

than the atta c k s from witho ut growing fro m d ay to
day more vio lent I lluminism was as sailed by enemies
.
“

o f all so rts th at sp rung up like mushrooms First there

, .

we re th e masonic systems of the reactionary or sup er

’

s t i tio u s kind such as the Rosicrucians the Asiatic B reth

, ,

ren the Afri ca n M as t e rb u i l d e rs the Swedish Rite th e

, , ,

remnant o f th e Strict O b servance etc ; then such o f the ,

.

I ll u minati as thought the hop es o f th e o rde r had b een

disa ppointed or who exp ected to p rofit by a b etrayal of
,

the order to the enemies o f lib e rty an d light ; finally and ,

a b ove all there were the sons o f Loyo la ever laboring

, ,

industriously in the dark though their so ciety had b een

supp ressed and now again thanks to t h e licentious
, , ,

bigoted desp otic Elector Charles Theodore po ssessin g ,

great influen c e in B avaria the country m which t h e ,

memb ership of the O rder of I llu m inati was o f longest

standing and most numerous At that court the seat .
,

of corruption some courtiers p ro fessors and clergymen

, , ,

who had been members of the order wi th the secret ,

p amphleteer Joseph Utz sc h n e id e r at their head played

, , ,

traitor charging th e order wi th rebellion infidelity and

, , ,

all manner o f vi c es and crimes and at th e same time , ,

Without ado classing with the I lluminati th e Freemasons

,
.
 M Y S TE R I A

By a decree of August the lodges o f all secret

so ci eties establishe d without government s app rov a l i n ’

c luding th e I lluminati an d th e Freemasons were b anned , .

The maso nic lodges s u b mitted at once and clo sed their ,

doors ; but Weishaupt and his associates went on with

th eir work hop ing t o change th e mind o f th e Ele c tor by
,

b ringing up fo r p ub li c discussion their rules and their

usages Vain h0p e The Ele ctor s confessor Father
. .
’

Frank an ex J es ui t who already h ad la b ore d against

,
~
,

Freemasonry p rocured on M arch 2 1 7 8 1 a second de

, , ,
~

cree by which the previo u s one was c onfirmed and all

, ,

secret organization s that continued to exi st in violation

of it and sp ecifi cally th e O rder o f I lluminati were fo r
,
'

b idden to hold meetings and all thei r p roperty was con ,

fi s cat e d Th e M inister o f State Aloy sius X avier Kreit

.
,

mayr distinguished himself b y th e ri gor with which he

,

executed the ukaz W eishaup t was depo sed from his .

p la c e at I ngolstadt exp elled fro m that city and declared

, ,

incapable o f legal defense ; he had to flee the co unt ry .

H e fi rst tarried in Ratisbon ; b u t soon i n conse q uen ce ,

o f the discovery o f co mpromising documents in a search

o f the ho u ses of I lluminati very grave charges were ,

b rought against the memb ers and the Elector b e c ame ,

alarmed for hi s throne Withou t distinction o f clas s or .

station a p ro secutio n was entered against all p ersons ao

c u s e d o f memb ership in t h e o rder or even s u s p ected of ,

symp athy with it and they were imprisoned de p osed

, ,

fro m o ffice b ani shed and i n the case o f p ersons o f the

, ,

lower c lasses punish e d wi th strip es This whole b usi

,
.

nes was managed without any re c ourse t o the regular

'

tribunals b y a sp ecial commission under Court dirce

,

tion This p ersecution lasted till after the outbreak o f

.

th e Fren c h Revolution and a refusal to c ondemn the ,

 ILLU M INA TI 225

French p e 0p 1e was taken as eviden c e of a revolutionary

spirit This system naturally fo stered ignoran c e amon g
.

the lower classes b ut among educated p eople it tended

,

to sp read th e p rinciples of I lluminism and to awaken ,

op p osition to monkish rule in the state .

Weishaup t no lo nger safe at Ratisbon t h B avarian

, ,

government having set a pric e o n his head fled to G otha , ,

where D uke Er nest a member o f the o rder prot e cted

, ,

him and made hi m Court councilor H ere he lived till

, .

1 830 but h e failed to res u scitat e his order on an i m

,

p roved plan As for Knigge he m ade h aste to quit th e

.
,

in c riminated order and i n his prim emas culate Um

,
“
,
”
gan g m i t M enschen stron gly condemned all secret
societies —
,

”
h e th e old time Temp lar Freemason and I l
,
-
, ,

lumini st Few we re s o stout hearted and firm as I gna

.
-

tius von Bo rn the natu ralist a native o f Transylvania

, , ,

who had b een a Jesuit b ut who after th e suppression , ,

o f the Society o f J esus had j oined the I llumi nati and b e ,

c o me a Freemason After th e suppression o f th e B a

.

varian lodges Born who was then in the se rvice o f the

, ,

Empe ro r Joseph I I at Vienna sent b ack to the B avari an

.
,

Academy of S ciences hi s diploma as m emb er o f that

'

b o dy acco mpanying it with a l etter in which h e bluntly

,

declared that he wo uld rather b e a Freemason than a

m e m b er o f a body with whic h he had nothing in com
m on . And thus wa s the cry of Voltai re E c ras o n s ,
”
l I n fam e
’
taken up by the p arty against which it was
,

first uttered and b y them given effect in the s hap e o f

,

a most infamous p erse c ution b efore men o f enlighten ,

~

m ent had made th e first m ove toward stamping o ut

“ ”

w h at to the m seemed an infamy “ ”

Fo r the rest it is .

said that the supp ression o f th e I llumin ati was the result
o f an understanding with Frederi c th e G reat whos e ,

po licy was thre atened by the order .

 M Y S TE R I A \

2 . Il M TTAY
I I ON S
‘ ‘

O F I LLU M INIS M
'
.

No t long after the break -up o f the O rder of I llu m inat i

in the South a similar order sp ran g up in Nort hern Ge r
,

m any I t originated in the b rain o f a man unfortunately

.

at on c e a zealo us I lluminist and a morally dep raved

vaga b ond who mad e a d eplora b le m isuse o f th e talents
,

with whi c h n ature h ad endowed h i m ri c hly Th is was .

D r Charles Frederi c B ah rdt P rotestant theolo gi an ,

.
,

so meti m e p reacher p ro fes so r or teacher in sund ry places

, , ,

and on c e even keep er o f an eating house at H alle I n .

1 7 88 it o c curred to him to foun d an association to p ro

mote enlighten ed vie ws and his plan wa s to c o m b ine it ,

with the m asoni c society o f which h e had b e c o m e a ,

memb er in En gl and Th e p roj ected asso c iatio n he called

.

“ ”
the Germ an Union o f th e X X I I ( D euts che Union der .

X X I I ) fo r th e reason as h e explained in a c ircular let

, ,

ter that twenty two m en had formed a union for the

,
-

ends set fo rth Th e Union was to b e organized on t h e

.

plan o f J esus Chri st whom B ah rd t in a voluminous wo rk

,

portrayed as th e founder o f a sort o f Free m asonry and ,

o f who se mi ra c les h e o ffered a rather fo rced natural ex

plan ation I n a cc ordan c e with this plan the asso c ia
.

tion was to b e a si lent b ro the rhood that was to hurl

“ ”

fro m th eir throne sup erstitio n and fanati c ism and thi s ,

c hiefly by the literary a c tivity o f the m em b ers The literary .

labor was ingeniously o rganized in such fashion that the

Union woul d b y diligent effo rt in time gain c ontrol o f
the p ress and fh e whol e b ook trade thus a c quiring th e ,

mean s o f insurin g th e triump h o f enlightenme n t O ut .

ward ly the Union was to have the app earan c e o f a p urely

literary asso ciation ; b ut inwa rdly it was to c onsist o f thre e
de gree s o f whi c h th e l o wer ones were to b e si m ply read
,
 ILLU M INA TI 227

ing societies while the third alon e would understan d th e

,

real pu rpo se o f the o rder viz advancement of scien ce ,

.
, ,

a rt commerce and religion betterment o f education e n

, , , ,

c o u rage m e n t o f men o f talent remuneration for servi c es , ,

p rovisio n for merito riou s workers in age and m i s fo r

tune also for the widows an d orphan s of memb ers B ut
,
.

inas m u ch as B ah rd t had p ainted this b eautiful pi c ture

solely to make mon ey the D eutsche Union existed only ,

on pap er ; but it wro ught for its proj ecto r a protracted

term of imp risonment which h e su rv i ve d b ut a short ,
'

ti m e ; he died in 1 7 9 2 .

Another imitation o f th e O rder o f I lluminati th e ,

Leagu e o f the E ve rget e s ( B un d der E verget en o r b ene ,

fa c tors o r welldo ers ) which sp ran g up at the c lose o f

,

t h e 1 8 th c entury had a longer term o f life t hough but

, ,

little expan sion Its a c t i vity extend ed over all the arts
.

and scien c es ex c ept p ositive theolo gy an d p o sitive j uris

,

p ruden ce The memb er s were design ated after the man

.

n er o f the I lluminati ; but they acknowledged no un

known su p eriors Time was re c koned fro m the death
.

o f Socrates B C 400 ,
Th e sup reme head was called
. . .

A rc h i ep i s t at (arch i ep i s t at e s chief overseer) ; there were ,

two degrees of whi ch o nly th e higher one had a political

, .

ai m popular rep resentation

, Fessler b y hi s protests .
,

against su c h tenden c ies brought a b out a split i n the as ,

~

sociation and afte rward his adversaries tried to convert

,

it into a sort o f moral Femgeric h t by tracking an d b rand

ing al l o ffenses O ne o f the three leaders b etrayed the
.

other two and was with them put in p rison b ut soo n

, ,

after ward released : that ended the asso c iation .

 4 . F R E E M AJS O N R Y AN D TH E F R E N C‘H RE V O L UTI O N .

That there was any allian c e o f th e Freemason s or ,

even o f the I lluminists with the men of th e Fren c h Rev o

,

l ut i o n whi c h b roke o ut i n 1 7 8 9 c an b e affirmed only b y

tho s e who are i gno rant of hi story or wilfully b lind —
, ,

by
men like th e Privy Coun cilor Gro l m an o f Giessen fri end ,

o f Stark ( si gnifi c antly named in th e Strict O b se rvance

,

Knight o f the Golden Cra b ) o r like th e a bb e and canon

, ,

Augustin B arru el in France , or the ship s captain an d ’

p ro fessor John Robinson in England : thei r allegations

, ,

were received only with ridicule an d p assed into oblivion , .

As we have seen th e I lluminati were to b e fo und only

,

in Germany where no revolution took place : in fact

, ,

they were no longer in existen c e when the French revo

l ut i o n broke o ut As for the Freemasons we have al
.
,

ready sho wn that they were o ppo sed to the movement ;

but that movement could have n o other gro u nd than the
dissatisfaction of th e people of Franc e wi th the shameful
B ourbon dynasty whose mischief could not b e repaired
,

by th e well intention ed b u t narrow minded Lo uis XVI

- -
.

No critical or serious work o f histo ry gi ves any j u s ti fi

cation o f th e b elief that Freemason ry had a hand in
b rin ging ab out that Revolution : but a deci sive p roof of
the t rue relation o f Freemason ry to the troubles o f those
times is had in th e fact that the Terror made an end o f the
Grand O rient o f Fran ce All the club s of the Fren ch
.

Revolutio n were open : th e p eople would n o t tolerate

secret clu b s not even p rivate assem b lages and hence as
, ,

early as 1 7 9 1 b egan to persecut e th e Freemasons as ari s

t o c rat s Th e Gran dmaster then existing Louis Philip
.
,

Joseph D u ke o f O rlean s gave up his title as we know

, , , ,

and called himself Citizen Equality and at last in 1 79 3 , , ,

 I L L UM I NA T I 229

declared that he had given up th e phanto m o f e quality ,

found in Ma so nry for the reality ; that in the Rep u blic

,

there should b e no Mysteries ; and therefore he would , ,

n o more have anything to do with Freemason ry That .

same year hi s head fell under the guillotine and h i s ,

“ ”
blood sealed the reality o f equality ; and mo st o f the
“
members o f th e two zealous lo d ges those o f th e Con ,
” “
trat Social and o f th e No e u f S oeurs w e re taught when ,
“ ”
they met with a l i k fate that real e q uality was a mo re
‘

,
“
dreadful p hantom than those they had p ursued in th e
"

lodges . O nly thre e lodges continued i n existen c e

thro ugh the Terror by extreme caution an d se c recy an d ,

not till the fall o f the Terrorists did B rother Ro ett i e rs d e

M o n tal eau c o me fo rth from the p rison in whi ch h e had
been in c ar c erate d simply becau s e he was a Freemason .

Thu s did Fren ch Masonry weather the terrible storm

o f t h e Revolution ; th e German lodges in the mean time

were b usy in reforming and stren gthening thems elves ;

for a season they withdrew into retirement and exerted ,

no longer any influence on pub li c a ffairs Sup erstition

.

and c hild s p lay fell into disrepute : the Rosicrucians the

’

,
“ ” “ ”
.

Asian and African orders th e Temp lars and their

, ,

like condemned by p ublic opinion had to give up thei r

, ,

ab surditi es and return to right reason Th e general .

league o f G erman Freemasons p roj ec ted in 1 790 by B ode

o f Gotha failed o f realization in conse q uen ce o f the death
,

soon afterward o f that enlighten ed m ason b ut its

p urp os e was served though not in its whole extent by
, ,

th e sturdy Ecle ctic League o f M asonry ( E kl e ti s ch e

Fre i m aure rb un d ) founded as e arly as 1 78 3 with head ,

quarters at Frankfo rt This League has ever since ren

.

dered notab le servi c e to th e c aus e o f genuine Free

m aso nry .
 S e cr e t S o ci e ti es of V a ri o u s K i n d s .

1 . S O C I E TI E S O F W I TS .

Th e Co m i c: has a p l ac e eve ry where in histo ry : th e r e

i s n o la c k o f it i n se c ret so c ieties ; indeed in such s o c ieti es
,

it assume s m any di fferent form s For there b e secret .

so c ietie s th at would b e c o m i c ; there b e se c ret so c ietie s

that are c o m i c witho ut kn o wing it ; an d fin ally th ere be
m en and p arties that b y their action a gainst s o c alled -

s e c ret s o c ieties m a k e them s elves c o m i c wi thout intending

it .

While G oethe live d at W eimar there was fo rm ed in ,

that city a satiri c al So c iety o f Chevaliers C uriou s ly .

enough it was suggested by Frederi c von Go ne a Knight ,

“

o f th e Stri ct Ob se rvanc e and a strong b eliever in the

de s c ent o f Free m ason ry fro m Templari sm b ut a comical ,

old soul w ithal and autho r o f a p arody o f Goethe s

,
’

We rther The m e mb ers too k knightly na m e s : Go ethe

.
,

for example was Go etz von B erli chi n gen ; they spoke i n
,

the styl e o f c hivalry and they had four degree s I n sar

,
.

c as t i c allusion to the revelation s pro m ised (b ut never

c o mm uni c ated ) in th e high p s e ud o m as o n i c degrees th e ,

degrees o f the So c iety o f Chev al iers were 1 Transition ; , ,

’
2 Transiti o n s Transition ; 3 Transition s Transition to
’
, ,

Tran s i tio n ; 4 Tra n s ition s Tran sitio n to Tran s i tion o f

,
’

230
 S E CR E T S O C I E T I E S O F V A R I O US K INDS 23 1

Transition O nly the initiate d understood th e pro foun d

.

m eaning of the D egrees .

Another so ciety o f simil ar nature was that o f th e

Mad Cou rt Councilors founded at Fran kfo rt o n the - -

Main by the physician Ehrm ann in 1 809 M embership .

c o n s isted onl y in the receipt fro m the founder ( in reco g

n i t i o n of so me hu m orous p iece
) o f a Diploma written in
b urles que style in Latin and bearing the impres s o f a ,

broad s eal Among men honored with the diploma were

.

J ean Paul E M Arndt Go ethe I ffi an d Schloss er

, . .
, , , _
,

C re u ze r Ch l ad n y et c G oethe earned his d iploma by a

—
.
, ,

parody o f hi s own Wes to e s c e r D iwan

“
t l i h
” “
O cc id en ta ,

l i s c h c r O rientalismus
”
.

M any so c ieties o f this sort hav e sin c e arisen b ut ,

tho s e o f V ienna are wo rthy of sp ecial mention O ne of .

“
these was called L u d l am s h o e h l e after a not very suc ,

c e s s fu l drama o f O eh l e n s c h l ag e r s It had m any di s ’

.

t i n gu i s h e d men in its membership The me mb ers were .

called B odies the c andidates Shadows Though mirth

, .

was the only obj ect the p oli c e thought it b est to sup
,
~

p res s t h e so ciety in 1 8 2 6 I n 1 8 55 app e ared th e G reen

.

I sland a co mic c h eval re s qu e so ciety though it rendered

,
-
,

good service to literature and art Several writers an d .

actors o f note b elonged to it A socie t y the A l l s ch l ar .

,

affi a was founded at Pra g ue in the fi ft i e s whi c h in 1 88 5 ’

, , ,

had eighty fi ve affiliated so cieties in G er m any Austria

- :
, ,

Swit z erland an d other c ountries A congr es s o f th e .

,

leagued so cietie s met at Leipsi c in 1 8 76 an d another at ,

P rague in 1 8 8 3 The presid ent o f each S ch l araffen rei c h

.

( or so c iety ) was c alled Uhu but on festive o ccasion

, s w a s

Aha and in c onde m ning o ffense s against the Al l s ch l ar

,

affi a, Oho .
 M Y S TE R I A

2. IM IT A TI O N S O F '
TH E A N C I E NT M YST I C LE A G UE S .

There have b een an d still are in Fran c e secret s o

c i et i e s that hav e thought th ey c ould in o ur ti m e tran s

plan t to Europ e under M asonic forms th e Egyptian;

, ,

Mysteri es O n c e there was a H oly O rder o f the S o

.

o h i s i an s found ed by Fren c h military o fficers who h ad

,

b een with Bon ap arte in Egypt Th e highest dig nita rie s

.

were called I s i arc h s and the rest of th e o fficers of th e

,

so ciety bo re similar titles ( mo stly fi ctitious) o f Egyptian

p riests . Th e lodge s were Pyramids an d their aera b egan ,

years before Christ Two orders whi c h still sub

.

sist are those o f M i s rai m an d o f M em p his b oth of which ,

i n do wnright earnest tra c e their o ri gin b a c k to Egyptian

anti quity an d re g ard all th e secret asso ciations mentioned
in th e pre sen t volume ex c ept tho se having p oliti c al aims
, .

as members o f on e grand as so ciation The fa c t i s that .

th e M i s rai m system had its ori gi n in 1 80 5 an d was ,

founded by so me men of loose m orals who c on tr i ved to ,

’
get th emselve s received into a Freemasons lodge in
M ilan b ut who b ecause they were not p romoted as they
, ,

h ad hop e d to b e went out and formed a Fre emasonry o f

,

their o wn The o rder sp read first over Italy an d i n 1 8 1 4

.

to Fran c e The syste m has no fewer than ninety degrees

.
,

group ed i n seventeen c las ses an d three series O nly the

'

,
.

“ ”
Gran dmaster received the nineti eth de g ree : the content '

of all the de gree s i s p ure n onsen se The M e m phis s y ste m .

wa s introduced into France in 1 8 1 4 b y a Cairene ad

venturer It held its fi rst lodge at Montau b an in 1 8 1 5
. ,

but has o ften sin c e that ti m e b een obliged to interru p t

i t s work Th e G rand Lodge of Paris was c alled O siris
. ,

the head o f the order was G randm aster of Li g h t ; th e

hierarchy o f o fficials was c ompl ex and showy The de .
~

grees were more than ninety in nu mb er to whi c h were ,

 S E C R E T S O C I E TI E S O F VA R I O US K I N DS 23 3

added three sup reme degrees b u t the total was afterward ,

reduced to thirty They com p ri sed the Indian Persian

.
, ,

Egy p tian Grecian Scandinavian and even the M exican

, ,

mythologies and theolo gies O nly two lodges exist to .

day and these the Grand O rient o f France took under

,

its wing some years ago they having given up their silly ,

ideas and turned to sensible b e n e fi c en t work

, , .

Another anach ronism is the g ho st o f Templarism ,

which in the p resent century as in the last walks abroad : , ,

b ut its connection with M asonry i s now rather loo se or ,

even non existent Thus ther eis no connectio n b etween

-
.
,

Freemasonry and the New Templars o f Paris whose tra ,

d i t i o n s do not di ffer from t ho se o f the New O b servance .

They reckon the ye ars fro m the founding o f the order of

“ ”
Templars and their learned men have imagined
a succession o f G randmasters deriving from one Lar
m e n i u s of Jerusalem nominated they say by M olay a s, , ,

his succes s or B ut L arm en i u s never exi sted

. H ere .
,

then is a n ew variant o f th e story p ut fo rth by the Stri ct

,

O bse rvan ce th e Royal Arch et c A do c ument is shown

, , . .

to p rove the nomination o f L arm en i u s b u t its Latin is ,

not that o f the 1 4th century ; and b esides only the Con , ,

ve n tu s of the Templars could name a Grandmaster .

After th e Revolution the new Tem p lars p urc hased a

splendid p roperty in the Nouvelle France suburb of
Pari s and from time to time o b served the anniversa ry of
,

M o l ay s death having a solemn mass of re q uiem p er

’
,

formed Th e G randmaster Raimond Fabre de P al ap rat

.
,

( 1 8 0 4 1 8 3 )
8 had under him four Grand Vi cars fo rE u rop e ,

Asia Africa and Am e ri c a—indeed the whole earth wa s

, ,

p arceled out among the mem b ers in Gran d Priories ,

M inor Priories Co m p t ro l l e ri e s etc and the wearers of

, ,
.
,

th ese titles were happy There were Clerical Tem p lars .

,
 M Y S TE R I A .

too the highest grade b eing that o f B ishop The rules

, .

o f the New Te mp lari s m permitted none to b e admitted to

the order save m en o i no b le b irth : b ut many a shop
’

keep er wo re th e white mantle with red cro ss .

There are New Templars also in England S c otlan d; ,

Ireland and th e United States almo st all of who m have ,

received the s o c alled higher de gree s o f Freemasonry

-
.

The En g lish Te mplars are divided into two opposing

p a rt ies fro m on e o f wh i ch c ame th e I rish an d th e Ameri
,
‘ ‘

can Te m plars No o ne is co mp etent fo r admission to

.

any of these Templar societies wh o does not b elieve that

Christ cam e on earth to save sinners wi th hi s blood and ,

'
th e memb ers must swear to defend this b elief with th eir
swords and with th eir lives B ut n o one alas has yet .
, ,

heard of their deeds on b ehalf of tho se i mp e riled articles

o f faith Th eir lodges are c alled Co mmanderies Th ey
. .

have Sword b earers B an n erb e arers Prelates , , .

3 . IMI TA TI O NS O F F R E E M A S O N R Y ’

The resuscitation o f the ancient ord er o f D ruids i s

another example of imitati o n o f the se c ret societies of
anti quity Among the Kelts of Gaul an d B ritain th e
.

D ruid s were next after the no b les and the warriors the
, ,

highest estate Religion art and science were their ex

.
, ,

c l u s i ve p rovin c e : hence th ey were priests poets an d , ,

scholars Th eir head was a Ch i ef D ruid an d they formed

.
,

an order wi th sp ecial garb a special mode of writing de , ,

grees an d m yste ries Th e mysteries were c ertain theo

.
~

logical philo sophical medi c al math ematical etc dog

, , , ,
.
,

mata and thes e were conveyed in three mem b ered sen

,
-

t e n c e s ( tri ads) The y b elieved in th e immortality o f the

.

soul and its t ransm i gration in o n e god c reation o f the , ,

 S E CRE T S O C I E TI E S O F V A R I O US K I N DS 23 5

world out o f nothing an d its transformation (not d e s t ruc

,

tion ) by water and fi re Their assemblies were held in

.

caverns and forests o n mo untains and w

,
ithin circles , ,

ringed round with e no rmous b locks o f stone Th e .

Roman e mp erors persecuted them as they did J ews and

Christians becaus e the D ruidic mysterie s seemed to
,

them dangerous to the state I n B ritain the B ards i e.

,
. .
,

tho se o f the D ruids who c ultivated po etry and song were ,

the mo st influential divisio n of their order There were .

—
three degrees o f the B ard s Probationers Passed S chol ,

ars and Le arned Bards .

I n 1 7 8 1 a so c iety was formed in Londo n whose

mem b ers called themselves D ruids and who p ra c ticed ,

rites resembling tho se of Freemason ry I n 1 8 58 there .

were twenty — seven mutually inde p endent societies o f

D ruids in B ritain b ut by consolidation the numb er is
,

now reduced to fifteen D ruidism was introdu c ed into

.

the United State s in 1 8 3 3 Their lo c al o rganization s

.

are called Groves and th e c entral o rganizations G rand

,

Groves They have three d egrees to which are appended

.
,

other higher degrees each with its own High Arch Chap
,
~

ter There is no close connection between Britis h an d

’

Ameri ca n D ruidism I n 1 8 7 2 D ruidism was imp orted

.

into G erm any from the United States : there are in th e

German empire forty Groves wi th ab out mem b ers
, .

The order of O dd Fellows i s o f En glish ori gi n , but i s

very strong in the United States I t wa s founded toward .

the end o f the first hal f o f the 1 8 th century but app ears ,
”
t o have b een at fi rst a c onvivi al society o f goodfellows
“
,

or o d d fellows with m utual benefi t a s a seconda ry obj ect

,
.

I t was reorganized in 1 8 1 2 th e feature o f c onviviality

‘

dropped and the b en e fi c en t ends m ade p aramount ; this

,

i s th e I ndep endent O rder o f O dd Fellows A rather .

 M Y S TE R I A

si m ilar organization th e An cient O rder o f Foresters

, ,

was founded in England a b out the same time with th e

O dd Fello w s order Forestry also h as b een tran splanted
’
.

to the United State s Ameri c an O ddfellowship severed

.

its c o n ne c tion with th e B ritish Grand Lodge in 1 8 42 .

There were in the United States in 1 88 9 m o re th an 600 ,

000 O ddfellow s in lodges A so c iety of American

’

o rigi n i s that of the Knights o f Pythias founde d in W ash ,

i n gt o n in 1 8 64 ; its obj ect i s to disseminate th e gr eat

p rinciples of fri endship charity and ben evolen c e : it had
,
”
,

in 1 8 8 5 separate lodge s and m embers The .

O rd e r o f Red M en ( I mp roved O rder of Red M en ) is

o f earlier ori g i n than the p rec e di n g zt h e mem b ers in th eir
lodge meetings i m itate so m e o f the customs o f th e Ameri
c an aboriginals and wear an attire resembling that o f th e
,

I ndians B eside s these there are in the United States

.

very many oth er se c ret so cieties having for their end

m utual b en e fi c en ce as Knights o f M alta Senate o f Sparta
, , ,

Knights o f the Mystic Chain Legio n o f the Red Cross , ,

Knights o f Friendship Royal Arc anum ,

Th e Grand .

Army o f th e Rep ublic was founded soon after th e clo s e

of th e c ivil war Its m . emb ers are veteran so ldiers o f
that war I ts ends are t o p erp etuate the asso c iations o f
.

comrade s in arms to relieve distress o f me m bers and pro

,
A fri c a n b u i l d i n g m a s te rs 214 C h t i a n i s m an i n e i t a b l e d e
ri s v
H
. .

26 ve l o p m e n t o f el l en i c m y s
A k k ad ian s
A l e xa n d e r a
.

fa l s e p ro p e t
.

h t e ri e s , e l l en i c H
p h il o s o
h h
,
,

1 24 s q q ; h i s t r i c k s e rp e n t ,
. p i es an d,
J e wi s rel i g

1 25 ; h i s w i fe t h e m o o n g o d i o n , 9 9 ; i t s o r i g i n , 107 s q q .

d es s 1 26 ; h e c l a i m s t o b e P au l th e A p o s tl e 109 ; t h e
h h h
,
,

a re i n c a r n a t i o n of P y th a C ri s t i a n c u rc h ow d e ,

1 27 ve l o p e d 1 15 .

A m e n o te p h re fo rm e r o f IV C h u e n a t e n r e fo r m e r o f E g y p
,

E g y p t i a n re l i g i o n 17 t i a n re l i g i o n 17
h
. . .

A n ge k o k s .
36 C l e rm o n t C a p t e r
A n i m a l s a n d t re e s a s g o d s 1 1 Co m i c s e c re t s o ci eti es 203
S v
.

h U
,

A p ro d i t e r a n i a , a n d A p h ro sqq ; . o c ie ty o f Ch e a l i e r s ,

d i t e P an d em o s .
23 1 ; L u d l am s h o eh l e 23 1 ; ,

A pis , s a c re d h ul l of M em A l l s c h a r a ffi a 23 1
. .

p h i s 1 4 C re t a n m y s t e ri e s 59 .

T h h
. 0 0 0 0 0 0 .

A p o l l o n ius o f y an a, ea t e n C u n e i f o rm w r i t i n g 28 . .

s aint,m y s ti c a n d t h a u m a ,
b
C y e le o r R h ea , h er mys
t u rg e 1 17 s q q ; i n M e s o p o t e ri e s 6 5 s q q ; a n t i c s o f h e r
, .

I
.
,

t am i a 1 1 9 ; n d ia ,
1 20; E t h i ,

0p i a 1 23 ; a p p e a rs a ft e r h i s
h D m h
,

d eat 1 24 ae o ns, C al d ae a n
A re o i amo n g th e o cie ty S D d ea re a l m o f th e, 18 ; j u d g
I s lan d e rs . m t en
,

o f
A ri s t e a s , m y s t e ri o u s p e rs o n D thea , exi s ten c e a f t e r, wi t h
a g e, h is d ea t h an d s u n d ry O i i s r s 19
D m t
.

r e a p p e a ra n c e s 89 s q q e e er 49 s qq
h
. . .

D m ti
. .

A s iatic B re t re n . . 214 e o c w ri t i n g 23
D vi l
. .

e s u n k n o wn to th e H el
B aa l le n es .
40 .

B a by l o n i a n re l i g io n 26 sqq D i o d o ru s o n E gy p t i a n m y s
h
. . .

Ro me L i vy t e ri e s
’
B a cc a n al ia in s .
22
v D
.

n a rr a t i e 62 s q q i o n y s i a c m y s t e ri e s 60 s q q ;
D h
. .
. .

b
B i l e t ra n s l a te d i n t o G re e k 9 3 th e io n y s iac o r B a cc i c
D
.

B o o k o f th e ea d 1 9 24 c u l t ap p e a l e d to s e n s ual i ty ,
hm h h
,

B ra a, s o ul o f th e uni 60; t h e p a l l u s o n o re d , 6 1 ;
v e rs e 35 th e M ae n a d e s an d t ei r h
hm
. .

B ra an s
B th
re re n f th
o e C ro s s 21 5 D ru i d s 23 4
B ddh h
. .

u a, B ud d i s ts 33 . . s qq .
D u k -D u k .
37

Ch ld a aea, 26 ; C h al d e e as t ro l E g y p t, 9 s q q ; i l e 9 ; p ri e s t s . N ,

28 an d w a rr i o rs 1 0; r e l i g i o n
Ch i ma
0 0 0 0 0 0 ,

e ra . 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 40 g ro u n d e d o n as ro n o m y , 1 1 ; t
23 7
 I N DE X

R e, t h e s u n g o d , b ec o m i n g F re e m a s o n ry i n t h e F re n c h
t h e o n e g o d , i h ; w o rs i p o f . h v
re o l u t i o n 228 sqq .

a n im als and p l an ts 12 ,

m y s te ri e s 20
E gyp ti an g o Shu S et
.

ds
o t, Th Ge rm a n U nio n o f th e

N
u n u , Tu m
,

o ro s R e sis
.

H
,

I XX II 226
h
,

an i m al s
,

Go d s
.

O
s i ri s , N e i t, P ta , A mon, , an d p l an ts as ,
H h
a t o r, H
a rm a c h i s 1 3 s q q .
11 ;
b
of E gy p t, 13 0 s q q ; o f .

E l e u s i n i a n m y s t e r i e s , 49 s q q ; .
B a y l o n i a , 27 sqq ; of In.

b
as i l eu s , as i l i s s a, 51 ; E u b 33 sqq
F F
.

m o l p i d a e K e ry t a e 5 1 ; i e ro h G ra c e s , a te s , uri e s 8
h
, ,
G re c i a n re l igio n, 38 sqq
p a n t , 5 1 ; w a rs s u s p en d e d
d u ri n g t h e s o l e m n i t i e s , 5 2 ; k n ew gma, no d
no r o 39 ;
th e m y th u n d e rl y i n g th e
v
d e i l s , 4 0; h
o s p i t a l e t o fo r b
E l eu s i n i a 53 ; le s s er and
ei g h go d s , 4 0; w o rs i p , a h
g re a t e r E l e u s i n i a ,
,

5 4 ; p ro St a t e fu n c t i o n , 41 ; ri t u a l

c es s i o n t o E l e u s i s 55 ; m y s an d s a c ri c e , fi
43 ; s e e r s h i p
t a e e p o p t a e , 5 0; t h e M y s t i c
,
an d p ro p h ecy , 44 ; o ra c l e s ,

H
,

o us e ib ; . c o n j u ra t i o n . 45
E s se nes a P a l es tin i an o rd e r
G re e k i n i ti ates o f E gy p ti an
m y s t e ri e s
,

or o f p u r i t a n s , 94 s q q
s ec t 21
Th Gu g o m o m y s t e r i o us
.

s a p er
c al l ed al s o e ra p e u t a e , 9 5 ;
'

ri t e s of ad m is s ion , 96 ; s o n a ge 209
E s s e n i s m a m i d d l e t e rm b e
t w ee n th e G re c i a n mys H v ea en an d
E a rt as go d s 7 h
fe r i e s a n d C r i s t i a n i s m 98 h . . H ll e e n i c m y s t e ri e s , 45 s q q
E ve r g e t e s , l e a g u e o f 227 an a n o m al y , 47 ; E uri p i d es ,
h i s p r a i s e o f t h e m y s t e ri e s ,
F e m g e ri c h t e f W es tp al i a , h a l s o C i c e ro s , 4 8 ; t e i r m e a n
’
h
—
o
1 4 7 s q q ; o r i g i n , 1 48 ; f e m i c
. ing p u r i fi ca t i o n a n d e xp i a
“
c o u rt s e x e rc i s e j u ri s d i c t i o n tio n , 49 ; s ee E leus in i an
al l o er th e v e m p i re 154 ; M y s te r i e s ”

H L b
.

h
,

p r o c e d u re 1 6 5 ; d e a t b y th e
,
e ro d o t u s o n t h e g re a t a y
ro p e , 159 ; co n d em n i n g to ri n t h , 18 ; o n E g y p ti a n m y s
d ea t h to wn s p o p ul a t i o n ,
’
a
1 61 : fe m i c c o u rt s s up er Hi g l y p h
e ro s 23
c e de d Hi ph t
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“
Hig h D g e re e s 195 sqq
Fi W o rs h i p h
.
,

re R o y a l A r c , 19 9 ; m y t h i c d e
F o re s t e rs 23 6 s c e n t f ro m e m p l a ri s m T 200;
S h S
. .
,

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’

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, .

o ut f th e to n em a s o n s o r d e g r e e s , 201 ; p e d d l i n g ig
’
o

g a n i z a ti o n 1 80; r s t g ra n d fi d e g re e s , 203 ; L e rn a i s ( M a r
q
,

l o d ge i n s t i tu t e d 17 17 , i h uis) R o s a ( P h i l S a m ) 204 ; .
,

h h T
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re co g n i e s z
um an ro t e r b t h e n ew e m p l a ri s m i n Ger
h oo d r e g a rd l e s s o i ra c e or m a n y i b ; tri c t O s e r a n c e
, . S b v ,

c re e d 18 1 : i n s t i tu t i o n o f t h e 205 s q q ; fa n t a s t i c ti tl es
h h h
.
.

t re e d e g r e e s , 1 8 2 ; d i ffu s i o n K n i g t o f t h e C o c k c a fe r ,
o f t h e o r d e r , 1 83 ; i t s a i m s , e tc 206 ; J o n A u g h
t a rk S
v T
.

1 84 ; s i g n s , r i t u a l sym ol s, , b i n e n t s c l e ri c a l e m p l a ri s m ,
1 8 6 ; g ra n d an d p a rti c u l a r 207 ; Gu g o m o s t ra c e s th e
l o d g e s , 1 8 7 ; wo m e n n o t a d
’
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m i t t e d to th e l o d g e , 1 90 M o se s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 209
 I ND E X 23 9

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d,
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.

c u rg u s in E gyp t 21
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Imit ti
.

a o ns of a n ci en t m y s ti c Mit ra s w o rs i m p o rt e d
l eag u e s 23 2 s q q ; o l y .
H fr o m P e r s i a i n t o R o m e 6 8 ; ,

O d
r er
,

o f S o p h i s i '
a n s ,
23 2 : b
e l a o ra t e s y m b
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O rd e r o f M i s ra i m O rd e r o f i n i t i a t i o n , h u m a n s a c ri c e s , fi
M em p hi s
,

ib 69 ; H b
e l i o g a a l u s a n i n i t i a te
h
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I
.

ni t i a te s 5; i n i t i a ti o n i n to 7 0; M i t r a s c o up l ed w i th
,

E gyp tian m y s t e ri e s . . 22 Z
a g re u s an d A t ti s , a n d th e
co m p o u n d d e i ty c a l l e d S a
I s t a r, Ch al d a e a n g o d d e s s , h er b azius 7 0; i n i t i a t i o n
,

b z
t h e S a a i a n m y s t e ri e s
in to
71
d es cen t i n to t h e i n fe rn a l
v
. .

31 M y s te r i e s , i n e n t i o n o f, 3 ; o f
re a l m
E gyp t i n cl u d e d M o n o th e
ism 23
J asios son o f Z eus ,
in v en to r
M yt o lo gy h
.

of n a t u ra l ph e
.

h b
,

f us an d ry 90
o h o m en a
h
.

J es u s ,
h i s p e rs o n a l i t y , t e a c
n s , m i ra c l e s ,
ing, p r e t e n s i o
1 02 s q q
N a t u r a l fo r c e s h
w o rs i p e d 6
T
.

N ew e s ta m e n t 1 10 s q q ; J o
.

s win d
.
,

J o h n so n B a ro n a
an n in e go s p el p ro d u c t of
,
a
h
.

l er t h e A l e x a n d ri n e s c o o l 11 3
J ud ai s m and H el l e n i s m ,
91
Ni l e , m a k e r o f E g y p t
. .

f i d eas be
sqq ; . exch an g e o
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e l l ene s ,
N vir ana 2
t we e n J e w s an d

i t s e ff e c t s O rp h e u s i n E g y p t 22
O p h i c s o c i e t i e s 84 s d q ;
r
q , .

sed
K ings d an u e e n s , d e c e a .
ec et s ch o o l s
s r o r cl u bs 85 ; ,

m a d e go d s 17 .
be c a m e n e s t s o f m e n d i c an t s
Klob b e r g o l l .
3 7 .
a d n s wi n d le s r 85
Kn i gge, B a ro n A dolf vo n ,
O s i r i s m y s t e ri e s o f 14
fo u n d e r o f l l u m i n i s m , 21 ; I ,

a p o s t at i es z .
225 h
P a n t ei s m o f B r a h m a n s 34
K n i g h t s T e m p l a r , 1 29 s q q ; .
h
P e r s e p o n e ra p e o f , 49 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

o ri g i n , 13 1 ; d e g re e s , 1 3 3 ; P e r s i a n re l i g i o n 3 2 s qq
h h H h h
.

w l t d p o w e r 1 3 4 ; P ilo , el l e n i s t J ewi s
e a a n ,
p il
s e c re t a i m s a n d c ry p t i c b e o so p h er . 94 .

l i e fs 1 3 5 ; c o n t e m p t fo r t h e P l a to i n E gy p t 22
h
.
,

c ro s s , 1 3 6 ; w o rs h i p o f an P l u t a rc on E g y p ti an re
i d o l 13 8 ; a c c u s e d o f
,
e re s y h l i gio n 24 .

and m e m e rs t r i e d b y t h e b P l u to 7
I q
.

n ui s i ti o n 1 41 ; m a n y c o n P o s ei d o n
h
,

vi c t e d a n d b u rn t t o d e a t h P ri e s t s , a n c i e n t , t e i r o e c o n
v h
,

t h e o rd e r d i s s o l e d 1 45 o m y o f r e l i g i o u s t ru t s 8 . .

P ri e s t s o f A s s y r i a a n d B a y b
L by a ri n t h
C ro c o d i l o p o l i s 1 8
at . lo nia
L e rn a i s an ap o s tle
,
of P y t h a g o ra s , 7 2 s q q ; h i s is i t . v
fra u d 204 ' t o E g y p t , 7 5 ; to B a y l o n , 7 5 b
y
.

Lo d g e o f U n i t a t ra n k fo r t F l i fe in C ro t o n a , 76 : h is
 I ND E X

ma th em a t i c a l s ci e n ce , a s t ro O rd e r A rg o n a u t s , i h ; o f
of .

no m i ca l k n o wl e d g e , 77 ; t h e M u s t a rd s e e d , 1 9 5 ; o f t h e
p hil oso p hi ca l vi ew s 78 ; h is L eal , o f t h e u ca t s ib ; o f D ,
.

h h
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sc l a n d t h e P y t a g o re a n
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l e a g u e , fal l o f t h e l e a g u e, S h aman i s m 26 0

Siv
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.
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o o mo nic e ge n d 174 199

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S v
,

R i d d l e o f e x i s te n c e o rc e r
y amo ng sa ag es 36
h S
.

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H Sp i i t
.

m o ter th e
o f i gh De r s o ul , an d bo d y 18
High
0 0 0 0 0 0
,

g re e s
”
fr a u d . St k
ar p ro m o te r o f th e
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R o s i c ru c i a n i s m , 174 sqq e re e s d e l us i o n 207

J o n h Va l e n t i n e A n d re a e i t s St m one as o n s l o d g es
’
1 66 sqq ;
h
.
,

o ri g i n a t o r, 1 7 5 ; t h e m y t i c a l o f G e rm a n y , 1 68 s q q ; l e a g u e
h
.

f r i a r C ri s t i a n R o s e n k r e u , z o f lo d ges o rg a n i e d by Al z
i b ; t h e o rd e r cl a i m e d t o b e b e rtu s M a g n u s , 1 69 ; u s a g e s ,
h
.

a n o ff s o o t o f th e k n igh tl y ri t e s , p a s s wo r d s , 1 7 0; h o s
o rd e r o f th e H
o s p i t a l ers 1 7 7 . t i l i t y t o e cc l e s i a s t i c i s m , 1 7 2
R o s i c ru c i a n i s m , t h e n e w , s to n e m a s o n s an d o th er
211 sqq .
c r a ft s m e n in r a n ce , 1 73 F
sqq ; th e olomo nic my t , S h
v
.

1 74 ; ri a l o rg a n i a t i o n s z
S a b a z i u-
s : s ee M it h ra s C o m p ag n o n n ag es , 175 ; E n g
S
.

ai s ,i m age at
h
.
l is hs t o n em a s o n s , 176 s q .

S a m o t ra c e m y s t e r i e s o f; 5 7
b
,

h S t ri c t Ob
s e r a n ce v sqq
S h
. .

sqq ; C a i ri , ih p al l i c t u a r t , C a rl e s E d w a r d 207
°

h
.

S
. .

w o rs i p , 58 ; th e i n i ti a u m e ri a n s
tio n ib S un a n d m oo n a s g o d s 7
S
. .

a t y rs . .
S we d i s ri t e h 21 0
S c h re p f e r , f o u n d e r o f t h e n e w
R o s i c ru c i a n i s m 21 2 T e m p l a ri s m an d F re e m a
S h b an
. .

c u a rt , J o h n C h r i s t i p ro s o n ry , 201 23 3 ; s ee
“
ig H h
H hD
,

D
,

m o ter o f th e ig e g re e s
”
e g re e s .

fra u d 206
S e c re t L
ea g u es am o ng s av Vi h s nu
ag es . 36
S e c re t S o ci e tie s , m i s c el l a n e W e i s haup t A d am , fa t e r o f h
W o o d s p l i t t e rs Il l
,

o us : Th e 1 92 um i n i s m 21 6 s q q
H S
, .

Ord er o f o p e , 1 93 ; o f ai n t
J 0n a t h a n ( o r J o ac hi m) , 194 ; Z a ra t h u s t ro t e m a
-
32
32s q q
.

th e P i l g ri m s Z o ro a s t e r
’
Ch ai n , ib : .
. 9 0 0 0 0 .
 T WO G R E A T W O R KS
B Y A L IC E B . S TO C KH A M . M . D.

TOKOLOG
“
3 33 .
A

To k o l o gy t e ac h es b
p o s s i l e p a i ni e s s p re g n a n cy a n d p art u ri t i o n ,
g i vm g fu l l , p l a i n d i re ct i o n s fo r t h e c are o f a w o m a n e fo re an d b
a ft e r c o n fi ne m en t . Th e a i l m e n ts o f p re g n a n cy ca n b e p re v e n te d

th e p a i ns a n d d a n g e rs b
o f c h i l d i rt h a o i d e d v
W ITH O UT D R UG S O R M E D IC I N E S .

To k o l o gy i s a po pul ar
G U I DE T O H E A L T H .

Mrs . J . M D avi s S ab ul a I o wa
. , , , s ays : I h ave t w o d e a r To ko l ogy
b bia es , an d d u ri n g t h e w h o l e n ine mo n th s ,
b o th t i m e s , h ad n e i t h er

p ai n
"
ach e nor .

M rs A L T “
A n h o u r a ft e r t h e l a o r-p a i n e g a n t h e a y w as b b bb
v
. . . .

d el i e re d . I f I c o u l d n o t g e t a n o t h e r To k o l o gy , I w o u l d n o t p a rt
w i th mine fo r a th o u sa n d d o l l a s
r
”
.

M rs J B M GR : I fo l l o w e d To ll o l o gg a n d n o w , a ft e r ft e e n '

} fi
bb
. . .

h nd l e s s m a r ri ed l ife , a s w e e t a y b o y h a s co m e as a g i ft
Sig
e a rs
rom
Th e i l l u s t rat i o n s a re acc u rat e an d ca re fu l ly m ad e . N e arl y 400
p age s . P ri n t e d i n E n g l i s h , Ge rm an an d S w ed i s h .

0l o t h , Mo ro cco ,
’

THE LOV ER S ’
WORLD
A WH E E L OF L IF E
Suppl ies th e h un ger/ cry o fh um ani ty upo n

V i tal Subj ects .

All l
o b
f i ts t e ach i n gs a re as ed u p o n e x p e ri e n c e an d p h i l o s o p h y .

Fo r th e fi fi
rs t t i m e d e n i t e i n s t ru c t i o n s a re p u t i n p ri n t fo r t h e

t ra i n i n g m a s t e ry a n d t ra n s m u ta t i o n o f c re a t i e e n e rgy , t h e u s e a n d
,
v
a p p ro p ri a ti o n o f p a s s i o n . Th ro u gh t h i s d e fi n i te t ra i n i n g o ne h olds
th e k e y t o h eal t h , p o w e r a n d l o n ge i ty v .

P rqf Os car L Tri ggs U

.
f . Chi cago : , n i vers i ty o
h a e rea d I t “
I v
Lo ver s Wo rl d wi t h g re a t i n t e re s t
'
A t l e n gt h t h e re i s a c h an c e t h e. .

th e w o rl d wi l l t ak e a ri h t a t t i t u d e t o w a rd s e x n o w t h a t s o m a n y
v o i c e s , s u ch a s y o u rs a n C a rp e n t e r s , a re ra i s e d i n
”
e h al f o f l o ve
’
b
a n d a t ru e i n t e rp re t a ti o n o f s e x .

S amu el M J o nes ( M a y o r o f To l ed o , O h i o ) : “ I t i s t h e m o s t h e l p
.

b
.

fu l w o rk o n t h e s u j e c t o f u ni ty a n d t h e s ac red n e ss o f a l l l i fe th a t l
.

h a ve s e e n "
.

400 p age s . B o u n d i n S il k C l o t h , P re p ai d ,
 E th i c s o f M a r r i a ge

By A LICE B S TOCKHA M n D . , . .

K R ZZA i w i tt f m i e d m en
A E s r en or arr
an d w m wh h v l fty i m i
o en o a e o a s n
l i f wh
e, p i h t d wh
o a re u re n e ar an o
s ee kb t d i ti
es f ff p i g
co n o ns o r o s r n .

KA R ZZA gi v i t u t i f t h e
E es ns r c on or
m a ri t a l t i o n an d reg a rd s i t as
re l a ,

a s a c re d fu n c t i o n t h a t m ay b e e m

p l o y e d e i t h e r fo r p ro ag a t i o n o r ,

fo r h i gh e r i n d i i d u al e ve l o p m e n t v
o f b o d y , m i n d a n d s o u l , wi h o u p ro p aga i o n t t t .

v
I t gi e s fu l l a n d c a re fu l d i rec i o n s fo r t h e t
C O M P L E TE C ON TRO L O F TH E CR E A TI V E P O WE R .

K A R E ZZ A co n t ro v e rt s i d e as o f t h e p re v a il i n g

b as e n e s s an d d e g rad a t i o n as s o c i at e d wi t h t h e
k
s e xu a l n a t u re , m a e s a p l e a fo r a b e tt e r b i rt h
ri gh t fo r t h e c h i l d , fo r a c o n t ro l l ed an d d es i gn e d
m a t e rn i ty .

I ts t e ac h i n gs wi l l l e ad i n d i vi d u al s t o p u re r
l i v e s t o ri gh t u n d e rs t an d i n g a n d ap p re c i at i o n o f
,

t h e s e x fu n c t i o n s t o i n t e l l i ge n t c o n t ro l o f p ro p a
,
f

g a t i o n a n,d fi n al l y h ro u gh ri g h t ad j u s t m e n t i n
t ,

t h e m o s t s ac re d re l at i o n s t o t h e i d e al m a rri age , .

H E A L TH CUL TURE : KA R E ZZ A i s a b o o k t h a t al l
wh o a re m a rri e d an d t h o s e c o n t em p l at i n g m ar
t i ago wi l l re a d wi t h i n t e re s t a n d p ro fi t .

DR . J As . A . S M I L L I E : I h a e rec e i e d m o re v v
t
ac u al b en efi t fro m t h e p rac t i c al a p p l i c at i o n o f
K A R E ZZ A t h an fro m al l o t h e r b o o s M y gra t i k .

t u d e kn o ws no b o und s . v
E e ry d ay I am s t ro n ge r,
h app i e r an d p u re r .

C H A S M C C OR M I C K , M D : I re gard
. A RE A . . K ZZ
v
as Di i n e l y i n s p i re d M ay a s n fi e ri n g wo rl d a p
.

p re c i a t e an d re wa rd y o u r e ffo rt s .

Ext ra Le v an t Cl o t h , P re p a i d ,
H OW TO LIV E FO REV ER
THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
B y H A RRY GAZE

Th i s w o r k e xa ct l y h o w t o p e rp e t u a t e
s h o ws
l i fe i n p h y s i c a l e m b o d i m e n t B y c o o p e ra t i o n .

w i th k n o w n l a w s o f c h a n g e a n d g ro w th m a n m a y ,

h a v e et e rn a l h e a l t h a n d i m m o rt a l y o u t h Ol d .

a g e i s a d i s e a s e t h a t m a y b e p r e v e n t e d a n d c u re d .

H a r ry G a ze i s t h o ro u g h l y s c i e n t i fi c an d ,

fo u n d s h i s t h e o r i e s o n t h e l a t e s t b i o l o g i c a l d i s
co ve r i e s . Th ro u g h k n o w l ed g e h e g i v e s l i fe m o re

a b u n d an tl y . Th i s i s s ci en ti fi c O p ti m i s m .

W R C L a t s o n M D E d i t o r o f H e a l th C u l “

—
. . . . .
, ,

t u r e s a y s : Th e a u t h o r O f t h i s i n g e n i o u s a n d
”
,
“

s u g g e s t i v e b o o k a d v a n c e s t h e s o m e w h a t s t a rt l i n
g
c l a i m t h a t s o m a t i c d e a t h —t h a t i s t h e d e a th O f ,

th e b o d y a s a w h l
o e — i s d u e t o ca u s e s w h i ch m ay
b e a v e rte d ; a n d t h a t b y p ro p e r m e a n s o n e m a y
, ,

s o c o n t r o l t h e b o d i l y fu n ct i o n s a s t o r e t a i n t h e

b o d y i n d e fi n i t e l y I d o n o t h e s i ta t e t o s a y t h a t
. ,

w h i l e M r Ga ze s c o n c e p t i o n O f t h e p o s s i b i l i t y O f
.
’

p h y s i c a l i m m o rt a l i ty i s u n i q u e t h e r e i s n o t h i n g ,

i n t h e a cce p t e d fa ct s o f p h y s i o l o g i c a l s c i e n c e b y
w h i c h h i s p o s i t i o n c a n b e r e fu te d I c a n h e a rt i l y .

r e c o m m e n d M r G a ze s b o o k
’
. .

E d w a r d E P u ri n t o n E d i t o r N a t u ro p a t h
.
“
,

Y o u c o m b i n e i n s t r u c t i o n a n d i n s p i ra t i o n i n a w a y
i n w h i c h fe w t h i n k e rs e n c o m p a s s I a m fa m i l i a r .

wi t h m o s t o f t h e N e w Th o u g h t t h e o r i e s b u t I b e ,

l i e ve t h i s b o o k s u rp a s s e s t h e m a l l .

El egantl y bo und i n c o l th and go l d o ver 200 pp .

Price . Pre pai d ,

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