Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry 1909 by The Rev. Charles H

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OECIL COURT,
Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry
THE
ANCIENT MYSTERIES
AND
BY
REV. CHARLES H. VAIL, 32

PASTOR OF PULLMAN MEMORIAL CHURCH
AT ALBION, N. Y.
FIRST EDITION
1909
PUBLISHED BY
MACOY PUBLISHING AND MASONIC SUPPLY CO.
NEW YORK CITY, N. Y. U. S. A.
45-7-9 JOHN ST.
NEW YORK, U. S. A.
ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL

LONDON I9O9
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED UNDER
BERNE CONVENTION
Printed by
Macoy Publishing and Masonic Supply Co.
New York. U. S. A.
PREFACE.
The Series of Sunday Evening Lectures whicfi
comprise thisbook were first given in the Pullman
Memorial Church, Albion, N. Y., to the members
of Renovation Lodge No. 97, F. & A. M., and the
congregation of which the author is pastor. The

many calls for the lectures in printed form led
to their publication. We trust that the book may
contribute to a better understanding of the Order
by the general public; inspiring our Brother Ma-
sons to greater appreciation of and loyalty to the
Fraternity, and encouraging all to labor for the
realization of the great principles and ideals em-
bodied in the Ancient Mysteries and our Modern
Masonry.
CHARLES H. VAIL.
Albion, N. Y., March 10, 1909.
2071670
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
LECTURE I.
THE ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES .... 13
LECTURE II.
THE EGYPTIAN, HINDU, AND PERSIAN MYSTERIES 33
LECTURE III.
THE DRUIDICAL, GOTHIC, GRECIAN, AND JEWISH MYSTERIES 51
LECTURE IV.
THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES 73
LECTURE V.
THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES (CONCLUDED) 92
LECTURE VI.
THE MEANING OF TRUE INITIATION 109
LECTURE VII.
THE MEANING OF TRUE INITIATION (CONCLUDED) 180
LECTURE VIII.
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY 142
LECTURE IX.
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLARS AND
THE ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE 161
LECTURE X.
THE SYMBOLS AND LEGENDS OF MASONRY 182
LECTURE XI.
THE SYMBOLS AND LEGENDS OF MASONRY (CONTINUED)... 197
LIST OF MASONIC AND KINDRED BOOKS.. ..217

ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND MODERN
MASONRY.
INTRODUCTION.
The purpose of these lectures is to consider the
origin and nature of the Ancient Mysteries and

Modern Masonry and to show the relation which
they bear one to the other. Freemasonry deals
largely with the morals and symbols of the Mys-
teries of Antiquity, and originally was one of the
channels of Ancient Wisdom.
There were a few among the founders of Mod-

ern Masonry who possessed the Royal Secret, or,
at least, had a knowledge of its existence, and, if
the key has been lost, the Mason, as Heir-apparent
of the Old Wisdom, should be foremost in the
search for its recovery.
All agree that the Masonic symbols and tradi-
tions are of the greatest antiquity, and can be
traced to the far East to the earliest civilization,
from which time and place they have spoken in
nature's language to all peoples of the earth.We
are more and more convinced that this picture
language of our ritual contains a most complete
philosophy knowledge embracing the eternal
a
verities universe, and that these symbols
of the
were designed by the Initiates of old to preserve
and convey that Ancient Wisdom to the present
10 Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry
and future generations. Though empires and

dynas-
tic continents have appeared and passed away,
these ancient symbols, hewn in rock-cut
temples
and monuments, have served to convey the Great
Secret from ages past and will continue its record
as long as this part of the universe remains.
Modern Masonry, has become in a special sense,

the custodian of these ancient symbols; and should
not be content with its possession only, nor with
merely imitating various predecessors; but should

its
enter boldly into the inheritance of its birthright and

seek the Ancient Wisdom of its illustrious prototypes.
To confine
the inteipretation of its symbols and
legends to lessons in morality and fraternity, such as
are found in all exoteric religions, is not to grasp the
deeper meaning that the glyphs and parables were
meant to convey. Many to-day realize this fact and
they are seeking still '"More Light" without, as well
as within the tiled doors of our Lodges.
In setting forth the results of modern research con-

cerning the symbols and legends of antiquity and their
meaning in Modern Masonry, I shall not lift the veil
from the secrets of the Order, but will endeavor to
lead the initiate to the clearer light that he may not
only see for himself the connection, linking the past,

with the present; but will begin to know, through the
development of his higher Masonic manhood, the
mighty truth of which these symbols speak. In this
endeavor I shall only refer to those things in Ma-
sonry that are exoteric and contained in our best
publications. do not claim the knowledge that
I
would enable me to completely unfold the mystery

and philosophy embodied in the glyphs of ancient
Introduction 11
times, but that they do embody an occult science

no thinking man of to-day has any doubt, and if I
am able to throw even a little light on the great
subject of ancient symbolic mysteries I shall feel
amply repaid for my efforts.
I am sure the lectures will prove interesting and

instructive to both members and non-members of
the Order, and while some few things mentioned
will be better understood by Master Masons, my
meaning will be clear to all : and that they may lead

to a better understanding of the Ancient Mysteries
and Modern Masonry, I bespeak for the subject
matter your careful investigation.
LECTURE I.
THE ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE

ANCIENT MYSTERIES.
Along with the popular and public cults of
traditions
ancient times, there existed an inner organization of
religion the Mystery Institution which was the
channel of secret traditions.
While our knowledge of the Mysteries is not so

extensive as we
could desire, owing to the fact that
they were anciently guarded with the greatest care
the slightest violation of the oath of secrecy be-
ing punishable by death we know that the mys-
tery-side of religion, a knowledge of its highest cult
and doctrines, was only attained through initiation.
Every great Teacher of antiquity passed through
these portals. This one fact in itself makes the
study of the Mysteries of the utmost importance to
Masons.
The Institution of the Mysteries was to be found in
all parts of the world. There were the Mysteries of
Isis and Osiris in Egypt, the Mithraic Mysteries of
the Persians, the Orphic and Bacchic and the later

Eleusinian semi-Mysteries of Greece, the Mysteries of
Samothrace and Chaldea, the Mysteries of India, the
Druidical Mysteries, the Gothic Mysteries, and
many others.
Thusfollows that the key to antiquity is a

it
knowledge of its Mysteries. The late Gen. Albert

Pike, formerly Sovereign Grand Commander of the

Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction, A. A. S. R.
illustrates this by saying: "Through the veil of all
the hieratic and mystic allegories of the ancient
dogmas, under the seal of all the sacred writings, in
the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the worn stones
of the ancient temples, and on the blackened face of
the sphinx of Assyria or Egypt, in the monstrous
or marvelous pictures which the sacred pages of the
Vedas translate for the believers of India, in the
strange emblems of our old books of Alchemy, in
the ceremonies of reception practiced by all the
mysterious Societies, we find traces of a doctrine
everywhere the same, and everywhere carefully
concealed. The occult philosophy seems to have
been the nurse or godmother of all religions, the
secret lever of all the intellectual forces, the key of
all divine obscurities, and the Absolute Queen of
Society, in the ages when it was exclusively re-

served for the education of the Priests and Kings."
(Morals and Dogma, p. 729.)
THE ORIGIN OF THE MYSTERIES.

The Mysteries had their origin in the first great
Teachers and Guides of humanity. These are called
the "Sons of Venus," they formed the "Nursery of
Adepts" the nucleus of the first Great White
Lodge. The Chief of these is known by many mys-
tic names in the old writings the "Root Base of
the Occult Hierarchy," the "Kumara," etc. Sur-
rounding the Chief there was a small band of Be-
ings who came to earth to labor for the evolution
of young humanity. Another class of Beings who
Origin and Object of the Ancient Mysteries 15
aided in this work was called Agnishvattas. Many of

these, we are told in the "Stanzas of Dzyan," became
Arhats. Thus was established upon earth, according
to tradition, the first Great Occult Hierarchy.
In the early ages occult knowledge was taught

openly, as the sciences are taught in our colleges
to-day. But in the course of time many allowed
their selfishness to ruleand so abused their power
that became necessary to withhold such knowl-
it
edge from the unworthy. This was the condition

of religious affairs when the Mysteries were neces-
sarily established by the King-Priests of the Divine
Dynasties, in the days of Atlantis.
There were many already in possession of occult

knowledge who were so engrossed in selfishness
that they could not be brought into the divine
path and their abuse of this power over the forces
;
of nature made them giants of evil. They re-

belled against the White Emperor, and became
Black Magicians, this caused a long and fierce
struggle. At last the cup of evil was full; the forces
of nature were turned against the land, until the
great continent, together with all followers of their

own selfish practice, sank beneath the waters of the
ocean. Before the storm broke, however, the men of
the "Good Law" heeding the summons to escape,
migrated to a place of safety.
Before the overthrow of Atlantis the Mysteries

were well established in ancient Chaldea and Egypt
the two great Fourth race nations being off-
shoots of the great Atlantean civilization. The In-
dian Mysteries came from her own Priest King, the
Manu, who gave to the first branch of the Aryan

stock its religious teaching. From this fount of
the Aryan race the Mystery-teaching in after years
flowed westward, and mingling with the older tradi-
tion, derived from Ancient Atlantis, gave to it new
lifeand power. The Greeks received their Mys-
teries from Orpheus, who introduced them direct
from India. But from whatever source the various
1
nations received their mystic instruction, the mean-

ing was ever the same all Initiates were members
of the one Great Brotherhood. In these early days
the Mystery-Institutions were conducted by Great
Adepts whose knowledge was the fruitage of a
prior system of evolution but as time went on and
;
our humanity developed, the great Masters grad-

ually withdrew, and the Mysteries were committed
to the advanced pupils of our present system of
evolution.
THE SOURCE OF RELIGIONS.
There are two schools of thought in the modern

world Comparative Mythologists and Comparative
Religionists. The answers given by these two
schools to the question of the source of religion
are diametrically opposed, but both base their argu-
ments upon the same common facts. These facts
are of marked similarity, not only in the teaching,
character, and power of the Founders of religions,
but also of the main outlines of their lives.
The Savior-Gods and their teach-
stories of these
ings antedate, some

of them by many centuries, the
birth of the Christian Savior. This similarity
amounting in many cases to practical identity, denotes,

common origin.
according to both schools, a
The Comparative Mythologists contend that the
common origin is one of common ignorance, that
the universal natural phenomena and the person-
ification of these powers of nature, resulted in simi-
lar ideas. This school maintains that the loftiest
religious sentiments and doctrines are merely the
refined feeling and expression of the barbarous
guesses of primitivemen that Animalism, Fetish-
;
ism and Nature-worship are the soil out of which

the highest forms of religious flowers have blos-
somed and that the founders of the great religions
are the highly developed but lineal descendants of
the "whirling medicine man."
On the other hand, the Comparative Religionists
maintain that the common origin is one of Divine
Wisdom, or Gnosis. All religions, they say, origin-
ate from the teachings of Divine Men, who con-
stitute a great Brotherhood of Spiritual Teachers,
and give out from time to time, to different races
and nations of the world, such parts of the funda-
mental truths of religion as are suited to the needs
of the people.
They contend that Animalism, Fetishism, and

Nature-worship are the distorted and dwarfed de-
scendants of true religious belief, and that the
founders of great religions are men who have ad-
vanced beyond normal humanity, thus becoming the
spiritual guardians of the race.
We have no hesitancy in saying that we ac-
cept the view of the Comparative Religionists,
for the Scriptures of the various religions furnish
abundant evidence that the founders were advanced
men, and their teachings are not surpassed (or oft-

en equaled) by later writers in the same religions.
The Sacred Books of the East give ample evidence
of this fact ; while the alleged refining process of
the Mythologists is without adequate support.
We also find among savages many traces of
lofty ideas which are entirely beyond their capacity

to originate. When we remember that the savage
tribes of to-day are not our ancestral types, but
rather the degenerate offspring of past great na-
tions, we begin to understand how they came to
possess these lofty ideas they are the faint remain-
ing vestiges of the Wisdom long ago imparted by
a great religious Teacher. (Esoteric Christianity,
Besant, Ch. i.)
It is evident that man in his infancy was not

left to grow up unaided. There have always been
Elders or Sages from whom the less advanced breth-
ren received direction and training; such ever stood
beside the earliest cradle of humanity, and gave
to the race the needed guidance and impulse toward
a higher ideal of civilization.
The first great Teachers were advanced souls

from other and still earlier systems of evolution.
They were the Adepts of the early races who es-
tablished upon this earth the first great Occult Fra-
ternity. These lofty Beings watched over and
guided early mankind; and as men advanced and
became fitted for higher knowledge they were in-
structed in the nature of the gods, the human soul,
the mysteries of the unseen world, and the process-
es of the world's continual evolution. Such are
the persistent and uncontradictory facts in con-

nection with the Mysteries.
Religions, then, have their source in the Occult

Hierarchy the qualified guardians of the spiritual
growth of the human family.
REASONS FOR ESOTERICISM.
History has noted the disastrous results of spread-

ing occult knowledge indiscriminately, and since the
sad experiences of Atlantis, the Initiates have carefully
guarded from the unpurified that knowledge which is
power. Therefore, the most rigid conditions regarding
purity, unselfishness and self-control are imposed on
all who seek the higher knowledge. The tempta-
tion to use power for selfish ends is too great to
entrust such knowledge to men of uncontrolled desires.
Another reason for esotericism is the fact that re-

ligions were given for the purpose of quickening
human evolution. Men are at such various stages
of development, that what will be understood by
the philosopher is unintelligible to another, and in
order to reach and help all, it is evident that in-

struction must be adapted to the peculiar needs
of each individual. The religious teachings must be
as graded as evolution itself each must be met
on their own level and helped on and on, from that
plain to greater heights and broader views, all in
a fashion that appeals to their unfolding intellects.
It is due to this fact that all the great Teachers
have reserved the greater truths for those capable
of receiving and understanding them.
SECRECY OF INITIATES.
This has been the method of all great instructors.
Initiates of allages have maintained a profound
silence concerning the truths learned in the Mys-
teries. From Orpheus, the first Initiate, of whom
history catches a glimpse, to Pythagoras, Con-
fucius, Buddha, Apollonius, Jesus, Saccus, no
Teacher ever committed anything to writing for
indiscriminate public use.
Herodotus, in speaking of the reasons why ani-

mals were worshipped, says: "If I were to explain
these reasons, I should be led to the disclosure of
these holy matters, which I particularly wish to
avoid," and again in other matters, "Concerning
these, at the same time that I confess myself suf-
ficiently informed, I feel myself compelled to be sil-
ent. Of the ceremonies also in honor of Ceres, I
may not venture to speak, further than the obliga-
tions of religion will allow me."
Jesus charged his disciples that they tell no

man that he was the Christ, also saying, "Give not
that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye
your pearls before swine; lest they trample them
under their feet and turn again and rend you." He
surely had good reason for his secrecy. Many have
learned the wisdom of these words when too late;
Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, and Socrates, are 'notable
examples.
The great Teachers instructed their chosen dis-
ciples in the higher knowledge and propagated
these truths in allegories and parables. "All that
can be said concerning the Gods," says Strabo,
"must be by exposition of old opinions and fables;
itbeing the custom of the ancients to wrap up in

images and allegory their thoughts and discoveries
concerning nature."
Pythagoras, the great mathematical Mason, di-
vided his classes into the exoteric and esoteric, and
his secrets were forbidden to be committed to writ-
ing.
Society of the Essenes, among whom were

The
St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist,
made similar distinctions; dividing their adherents
into Neophytes, Brethren, and Perfect, while Am-
monius Saccus obliged his disciples by oath not to
divulge his doctrines, except to those who had been
thoroughly instructed and prepared.
In Egyptwe find the same method in practice,
for Clement says, "The Egyptians did not entrust
the mysteries they possessed to all and sundry, and
did not divulge the knowledge of divine things to
the profane." He also informs us that the sphinxes
erected in front of the temples and places of In-
itiation denoted silence and secrecy that all sac-
red truth is enfolded in symbolical fables and al-
legories and he says of the Mysteries, "Those who
instituted the Mysteries, being philosophers, buried
their doctrines in myths, so as not to be obvious
to all." (The Stromata, Book V, Ch. VII, Ch. IX.)
The Sages of Greece, according to Pausanias,
"Never wrote otherwise than in an enigmatical
manner." They concealed their knowledge under
the veil of fiction and so taught that the vulgar
might not comprehend. The typical Hermes as-
sembled his disciples in a holy place or shrine where
strict secrecy was imposed. In the Perfect Sermon

he says, "And ye, O
Tat, Asclepius and Ammon,
in silence hide the
mysteries divine within the se-
cret places of your hearts, and breathe no word of
their concealment." This was the universal pro-
cedure.
Says Wm.
R. Singleton, 33d degree, Past Grand
Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia:
Secretary,
"The wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyp-
tions, Jews of Zoroaster, Sanconiathon, Pherecydes,
Syrus, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato of all the ancients,
;
that is come to our hand, is symbolic. ... In the

method explaining the various symbols, religion and
philosophy were veiled in allegoric representations.
These symbols were displayed openly in
the temples ....to the profane altogether
obscure, but streaming with beams of light to the

Initiated." (History of Freemasonry and Con-
cordant Orders, p. 83.)
OCCULT SYSTEMS OF WRITING.
There were various methods employed by the

teachers to convey and yet conceal the truths of
the Mysteries. The three main Kabbalistic sys-
tems are the Gematria, which is based on the nu-
merical value of words applying to the letters of
a word the sense they bear as numbers the Temu-
;
ra, by which a word yields its mystery by anagram

the transposition of the letters and the Notari-
con, which may be compared to stenography. The
system of number-letters was derived from Chal-
dea by the Hebrews during and subsequent to their
captivity. The Chaldeans worked out their cos-
mogonies and anthropogeneses in numbers, their

sacred books were written with this object in view;
Pythagoras had a number-philosophy, which in all
probability held many resemblances to the number-
books of Chaldea this method was developed to a
;
great extent by the Hellenising tendencies of the

cultured Rabbis of Alexandria. The Gnostics also
made much use of this number-symbolism the
system of Marcus being quite elaborate, and the
books of Hermes are probably the oldest repositor-
ies of number-symbolism in western civilization.
Closely connected with this was Geometrical

symbolism, which was also used by Pythagoras
the square, triangle, point within the circle, cube,
double triangle, 47th. problem of Euclid, etc., the
geometrical figures representing the numbers ob-
jectively. In every cosmology from the earliest
times we find the basic idea combining numerical
geometrical figures.
There also the allegorical method a setting

is
forth of truth in the form of myths, or parables,

and furthermore, the secret sacerdotal tongue, the
Senzar, which was known to the Initiates of every
nation. Then to rightly read the world's Script-
ures one must have the keys to all these various
systems.
OBJECT OF THE MYSTERIES.
The object of the Mysteries was the instruction

and development of man. They were the work of
genius employing the sciences and a profound
knowledge of the human heart in the task of puri-
fying the soul, and seeking man's felicity by the

means of virtue. Great emphasis was laid upon
man's immortality, and the object and purpose of
the Mysteries was to fit him for a blessed state
beyond. Thus these mysteries taught the condi-
tion of the postmortem state, and strove to develop
in the candidate the powers that would enable him
to verify the instruction, for, himself.
Antiquity had held that there was a science of

the soul, a knowledge of things unseen, a Gnosis;
and now that the possibility of extending the
bounds of consciousness beyond the physical plane
has been proven by many experiments in psychism,
the claim of the Mysteries is not beyond rational
belief. That the ego may transcend the limits of the
body and become conscious on the higher planes

of nature verifies the truth of the mysteries of all
ages and proves that nature's God, in infinite wis-

dom, through the constant progress or development
of his children,is initiating them from every field of
labor to aid in his mighty work.

The higher instruction was not only given by
perfected Initiates who could function on the higher
planes, but the assistance of angelic hierarchies was
also invoked and those exalted Beings came to
teach and elevate by their presence. lamblichus,
the Theurgist of the third and fourth cen-
great
turies A. D. says, "The Gods [these Beings are
not Gods in the Western sense of the term but
Angels, or Devas; Plato calls them the 'Minor
Gods' to distinguish them from the Supreme] "be-
ing benevolent and propitious, impart their light to
Theurgists in unvarying abundance, calling up-
ward their souls ta themselves, procuring for them

a union with
themselves, and
accustoming them,
while they are yet in body, to be separate from
bodies, and to be led around to their eternal and in-
telligible principle." For "the soul having a twofold

life, one being in conjunction with body but the other
being separate fromall body," it is most necessary
from the body, that thus it may

to learn to separate
unite with the Gods and learn the truths of the
intelligible world. (Esoteric Christianity, p. 24, 25.)
The consummation of all this was to make the

God, either by union with a Divine Being
Initiate a
without or by the realization of the Divine Self
within.
Sallust says that the object of the ceremonies of

Initiation was to unite man with the world and
Deity. The Initiate claimed that the soul puri-
fied from all stain, could see the Gods in this life
that is, could attain the beatific vision, and hold
communion with the Immortals. Prof. Harnick re-
marks that deification was the idea of salvation
taught in the Mysteries.
The GreekNeo-platonists called this state "The-

ophany," which means either communication be-
tween the Gods or God and those Initiated mortals
who are spiritually to enjoy such intercourse;
fit
or the presence of a God in man, an incarnation or

blending of the personal Deity; the Higher self
with the lower self its representative on earth.
Plotinus defines this state as "The liberation of
the mind from consciousness, becoming one
its finite
and identified with the Infinite." The length and

frequency of this sublime condition depends upon

the spiritual development. Proclus claims to have
experienced this ecstasy six times during his mystic
life Plotinus states that he had reached this state
;
"but three times as yet ;" Porphyry asserts that Ap-

polonius attained this state four times, while he
experienced but once, and that after he was
it
sixty years of age. This illumination may come

and go as a flash, or it may last for hours. With
the high Initiates, the Word is really made flesh,
the union complete, and its duration continuous
throughput life. The Mysteries were as a training
school to this end. Philo in speaking of the Divine
Vision says, "It is the special gift of those who
dedicate themselves to the service of That-which-is-

. . . . to ascend by means of their rational facul-
ties to theheight of the aether, setting before them-
selves 'Moses' the Race that is the friend of God
(The Race of the Logos) as the leader of the way

. . . the work of philosophy is naught else than
.
the striving clearly to see these things."
Proclus also says, "In all the Initiations and Mys-

teries, the Gods exhibit many forms of themselves,
and appear in a variety of
shapes ;
and sometimes,
indeed a formless light of themselves is held forth
to the view sometimes this light is according to
;
a human form and sometimes it proceeds into a

different shape." (Quoted in Eleusinian and Bacchic
Mysteries, Taylor, p. 66.)
Taylor too, correctly infers, "The most sublime

part of the epopteia or final revealing, consisted in
beholding the Gods [high planetary spirits] them-
selves, invested with a resplendent light." (Ibid, or

same book, p. 65.)
In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates is made to say, "Those

who instituted the Mysteries for us appear to have
been by no means contemptible, but in reality to have
intimated long since that whoever shall arrive in
Hades unexpiated and uninitiated shall lie in mud [a
symbol of the gloomy surroundings of the lowest reg-
ion of the astral world], but he that arrives there
purified and Initiated, shall dwell with the gods."

(Plato, Cory's Translation, Vol. I, p. 68.) Again in
Phaedrus, Plato says, "Initiated into that which may
be rightly called the most blessed of all Mysteries,
which we celebrated when we were whole and un-
affected by the evils that awaited us in time to come,
and moreover when we were initiated in, and beheld
in the pure light, perfect, simple, calm, and blessed
visions, being ourselves pure, and as yet unmasked

with this which we now carry about with us and call
the body, fettered to it like an oyster to its shell."
(Ibid, p. 326.)
If we admit the existence of faculties in man

capable of piercing- the veil of matter, we shall find
no reason for rejecting the plain evidence of ancient
writers that the Mysteries were associated with a
psychic and spiritual revelation.
Hermes in his sermons has much to say on the

Gnosis. Gnosis of God is the science of sciences.
In "The Key" he tells us that "The distinctive fea-
ture of Good (God) is that it should be known."
This is the "Vision Glorious." As stated by Mead
in his commentary, "This consummation of Ecstasis
(the extension of consciousness), we are told, was

a transcending of the limitations of body, and was
a faculty possessed by the forbears of the 'race'
into which Hermes and now Tat are being born."
(Thrice Greatest Hermes, Vol. II, p. 162.) The
nature of Ecstasy is further explained as the fruit
of meditation and contemplation. "The Gnosis of
the Good is holy silence and a giving holiday to
every sense." This is in accord with the Yoga
of the Upanishads, which shows identity of thought
of those who have had first hand experience.
Hermes proceeds, "For it is possible, my son, that
a man's soul should be made like to God, e'en while
it still is in a body, if it doth contemplate the
Beauty of the Good." This is the true deification or

apotheosis Man is like God in that he becomes a
God. The result of the evolution of the soul was
the attainment unto the "first steps of deathless-
ness," spoken of by Paul as the "resurrection of
the dead." "The soul's vice," says Hermes, "is
ignorance .... But on the other hand, the
virtue of the soul is For he who knows, he
Gnosis.
good and pious is, and still while on the earth divine."
Here we have the attainment of the divine state,
that of Adeptship while still in the body.
Proclus held that Initiation elevated the soul,

from a material, sensual, and purely human life,
to a communion and celestial intercourse with the
Gods; and that a variety of things, forms, and
species were shown to Initiates, representing the
first generation of the Gods.
In speaking of Petosiris, Proclus tells us that this
Egyptian Philosopher had an intimate knowledge
of every order of the Gods and Angels, and refers to

a hieratic formula of theurgic invocation to the
greatest of the goddesses (Necessity), for inducing
the vision of this power. Valens tells us of Nechep-
so who attained to direct knowledge of the Inner
Way. Vettius, in the first half of the first century
A. D. laments that he did not live in those days of
Initiate Kings, Rulers and Sages who
occupied them-
selves with the Sacred Science. In those days so
great was their love for the holy mysteries, so high
their virtue, that they left the earth below them,
and in their deathless souls became "heaven walk-
ers" and knowers of things divine. Vettius also
quotes a Greek apocalyptic treatise of Nechepso
where the king tells us that he had remained in
contemplation all night gazing into the aether; and
so in ecstasy he left his body and had then heard
a heavenly Voice addressing him. This Voice was
not merely a sound, but appeared as a substantial
presence, who guided Nechepso on his way through
the heavenly space. (Thrice Greatest Hermes, Vol.
I, p. 101.)
Cicero considered the establishment of the Eleu-

sinian Mysteries to be the greatest of all benefits
conferred by Athens on other commonwealths;
their effect having been to civilize men, soften
savage ferocious manners, and teach them the true
principles of morality, which initiate man into the
only kind of life worthy of him. (Cicero cited in
Morals and Dogma, p. 380.) The Mysteries pro-
cured for man a real felicity on earth by means of
virtue. He was taught the immortality of the soul
and the inflexible laws of divine justice, and the
great moral precepts were made known 'not only to

the Initiates but also to the profane. The Mys-
teries pointed out to men the way to "live better
and die happier;" but, as we have seen, the object
of the Mysteries was not merely to teach morality,
for as Gen. Pike well says, "Had moral truths
alone been taught the Initiates, the Mysteries could
never have deserved nor received the magnificent
eulogiums of the most enlightened men of An-
tiquity of Pindar, Plutarch, Isocrates, Diodorus,
Plato, Euripides, Socrates, Aristophanes, Cicero,
Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and others: philosophers
hostile to the Sacredotal Spirit, or historians devoted
to the investigation of Truth. No: all the sciences
were taught there; and those oral or written tradi-
tions briefly communicated, which reached back to the
first age of the world." (Ibid, p 373.)
The object of the Mysteries, then, was to instruct

men in the real science of being, and to lead them
up the stairway to perfection

superhumanto the
stage to the and that which transcends
Christ
even perfect Masterhood.
In this way they sought to purify the soul, hold-
ing that the true home of the soul was in the high-
er spheres, the earth a place of exile, and that to
return to birthplace the soul must free itself

its
from the power of the world must be emancipated

from the passions and the hindrances of the senses.
The Mysteries taught men how to attain the do-
minion of the soul, which was absolutely necessary
as "We must flee from everything sensual," says
Porphyry, "that the soul may with ease reunite

itself with God."
Thus the Mysteries sought to sanctify men, to

illuminate their souls and fit them to return con-
sciously to union with the Deity. The Gnostics all

claimed that a man could so perfect himself that he
would become a conscious worker with the Logos.
The object of the Mysteries, then, was not only to
teach the unity of God and the immortality of the
soul, as Warburton, Mackey and other Masonic
writers contend, but to enable each man to verify
these great spiritual facts for himself.
These citations from the ancient classic writers

and philosophers regarding the Mysteries might be
greatly extended, but this will suffice to show the
reverence and admiration in which the Mysteries
were -held. Would these Mysteries have received
such high praise had they not known them to be of
divine origin? As has been well said, "When men
like Pythagoras, Plato, and lamblichus, renowned
for their severe morality, took part in the Mysteries
and spoke of them with veneration it ill behooves
our modern judge them upon their merely
critics to
external aspects." Many have accepted without
question certain derogatory statements of the early
Christian Apologists concerning the Mysteries,
without taking into consideration the fact that the
writers were animated by the spirit of bitter con-
troversy. Due allowance should be made for this,
placing such statements in the same category as
those of the Pagans, when they charge the Chris-
tians with being Atheists, and practicing shameful
rites.
To suppose that the Mysteries were the invention

of charlatanism is the height of absurdity. True,
they degenerated in the lapse of time as did the

Christian Agape but in the beginning and for long
ages they were pure and noble, and the wisest and
best men of antiquity were not wilful falsifiers.
The Mysteries were truly the greatest institutions

of ancient times. They contained all that was most
profound in philosophy and most spiritual in religion.
Such were the Ancient Mysteries of which Ma-
sonry is the successor.
LECTURE II.
THE EGYPTIAN, HINDU, AND PERSIAN

MYSTERIES.
Undoubtedly the ceremonies of Initiation were orig-

inally few, and all were intended to symbolize the
progress of the human soul they were the outward
signs of an inward fact. Initiation, as we shall see
in a subsequent lecture, was regeneration a real
spiritual "new becoming" or re-birth. The candidate
himself became the thing symbolized Hermes, Budd-
ha, Christ, etc. This state was the result of real In-
itiation an evolution of the human into the divine.
In the course of time this spiritual truth was neg-

lected and initiation no longer meant spiritual re-
generation, and the rites no longer typified the va-
rious stages of the soul's progress the mystic birth,
death, and resurrection. The key to the spiritual

science was forgotten, the Master's Word "lost,"
and Initiation consisted merely in imparting to the
candidate the traditional knowledge of the symbols
as handed down from time immemorial, and gradu-
meaning of the symbols disappeared, and

ally the true
even the symbols themselves were transformed into
crude dogmas.
THE CEREMONIES OF INITIATION.

The Ancient Mysteries were divided into two stages
the Probationary Path and the Advanced or Path
Proper. In most schools the Probationary Path was

merely preliminary, but, as some schools began with
the preliminary in numbering the stages or divisions,
one needs be on guard to avoid misunderstandings.
Others, as in Greece, divided their Mysteries into the
Lesser and the Greater. Beyond which there was
the True Mystery of the Path. (In other systems the
True and the Greater Mysteries were undoubtedly the
same.)
The higher evolution, belonged to the True or Real
Mysteries, to which all others led. A
Neophyte was
compelled to be proficient along these lines before he
was allowed to take the real Initiation and enter upon
the Path proper, which will be considered in a subse-
quent lecture. There were outer forms and ceremo-
nies which stood for and symbolized the True Mys-
teries, but little was known of their inner nature ex-
cept by those who experienced them.

The ceremonies were undoubtedly altered in the
course of time, but even in the days of the greatest
deterioration we find traces of the hidden wisdom in
connection with the ancient symbols some of which
have survived, and are to be found in Modern Ma-
sonry.
THE EGYPTIAN MYSTERIES.

The learned Greek Plutarch, himself an Initiate
into the Osireaca,of which there was probably a
thiasos at Delphi, gives much valuable information
regarding the Mysteries of Egypt. Of course, he

could only give hints, for, as he says, in speaking of
the Priests, "Their philosophy which for the most
part was hidden in myths and words (logoi) contain-
The Egyptian, Hindu, and Persian Mysteries 3S
ing dim reflections and transparencies of truth, as,

doubtless, they themselves make indirectly plain by
fitly setting sphynxes up before the temples, as though
their reasoning about the Gods possessed a wisdom
wrapped in riddle.So great, then, was the care

. .
Egyptians took about the wisdom which concerned the

mysteries of the Gods. And the most wise of the
Greeks also are witnesses Solon, Thales, Plato,
Eudoxus, Pythagoras, and as some say, Lycurgus as
well through coming to Egypt and associating with
her priests," and "brought back to the memory of his
men their symbolic and mysterious [art], containing
their dogmas in dark sayings. When, therefore, . . .
thou nearest the myth-sayings of the Egyptians con-

cerning the Gods wanderings and dismemberings,
and many such passions thou shouldst remember
what has been said above and think none of these
things spoken as they [really] are in state and action."
(Plutarch: Concerning the Mysteries of Isis and
Osiris, Sec. IX, X, XL} This is true not only of the
Egyptian myths but of all others.
Plutarch then sets forth the Osiris and Isis Mys-

tery-Myth. begins with the birth of the Gods
It
Osiris, the Elder Horus, Typhon, Isis, etc. Osiris

and Isis being in love with each other were united.
They ruled over Egypt for many years but finally
the malicious Typhon, his evil brother, while filled
with envy sought his destruction. He devised a beau-
tiful and having it brought into the banquet
chest,
haJl, promised to give it to any one whom it would
exactly fit. Osiris stepped in and laid down, where-

upon they who were present rushed up and put on
the lid and fastened it down, and carried the chest
to the river Nile, whence was borne out on the

it
flood to the sea. When heard what had been

Isis
done she set forth in search of the chest, which, mean-
while, had been carried by the waves to the Byblos
country, where the land-wash brought it to rest in a
certain heather bush or tamarisk tree, a species of
acacia. This bush grew around, enfolded and hid it
entirely within itself. The King Malkander mar-
velled at the greatness of the tree, and cut it down
and made of it a prop in the form of a pillar for his
roof, but Isis having found trace of the chest and
its disposition through Anubis and the daemonean
spirit of a voice, came also to Byblos and sitting down
by a fountain head showed attention to the maids of

the Queen, dressing their hair with ambrosia, thus
securing an invitation to the palace, where she became
nurse of the Queen's child; then finding time
little
ripe to reveal herself, the Goddess claimed for her

own the pillar of the roof, and taking it down, she
cut the tree from around the coffin and placing the
chest in a boat, carried the body to her son Horus,
who concealed it in a deep forest. But Typhon while
out hunting came upon it, and recognizing the body
as that of Osiris, tore it into fourteen parts, and scat-
tered them abroad. Isis, hearing what had been done,
sought to recover the parts, and succeeded in finding

all but one, which had been cast into the river and
eaten by the fishes. Horus then fought Typhon and

overpowered him, when it was proclaimed that Osiris
had risen from the dead.
This is merely an outline of the myth. It has a

macrocosmic and microcosmic meaning. In the for-
mer sense, Osiris and Isis are cosmic or super-cosmic
The Egyptian, Hindu, and Persian Mysteries 37
beings, symbolized by the sun and moon, and the

elder and younger Horus are the Intelligible and
Sensible Worlds. Microcosmically the Myth per-
tains to the mystery of Initiation the Horus or
Christ stage of manhood. In this latter aspect it
symbolizes the mystic life of the Initiate.

In regard to Initiation Plutarch says, "When the
Initiates of Isis at their 'death' are adorned in these
[robes], it is a symbol that this Reason (Logos), is
with them; and with naught Him and go else they

there [or walk Hades, the death
there, that is, in
here mentioned is the mystic death unto sin]. For
it is not the growing beard and wearing cloak that
makes philosophers, O Klea, not clothing in linen

and shaving oneself that makes Initiates of Isis; but
a true Isiac is one who, when he by law receives them
searches out by reason (Logos) the [Mysteries]
shown and done concerning these Gods and meditates
upon the truth in them." (Ibid, Sec. in.)
This Mystery rite is referred to by Epiphanius as
solemnized in the Temple of Isis who is called the
Virgin Mother, or World Virgin. In speaking of
the Feast of Epiphany, which was a great day in
Egypt connected with the birth of the Aeon (a phase

of the birth of Horus) he says, "Indeed, the leaders
of the idol-cults, filled with wiles to deceive the idol
worshippers who believe in them, in many places keep
highest festival same night of Epiphany (the
on this
manifestation of Light), so that they whose hopes
are in error may not seek the truth. For instance,
at Alexandria, in the Koreion, as it is called an im-
mense temple that is to say, the precinct of the vir-
gin ; after they have kept all night vigil with song and
music, chanting to their idol, when the vigil is over at

cock-crow, they descend with lights into an under-
ground crypt, and carry up a wooden image lying
naked on a litter, with the seal of a cross made in
gold on its forehead, and on either hand two similar
seals, and on both knees two others, all five seals being
similarly made in gold. And they carry around the
image itself, circumambulating seven times the inner-
most temple, to the accompaniment of pipes, tabors,
and hymns, and with merry-making they carry it
down again underground. And if they are asked the
meaning of this mystery, they answer and say: 'To-
day at this hour the Maiden (Kore), that is, the Vir-
gin, gave birth to the Aeon.' In the city of Petra
also, the samedone, and they sing the praises of the
is
Virgin .... and him who is born from her,

Dusares, that is, Alone Begotten of the Lord. This
also takes place in the city of Elousa on the same
night just as at Petra and at Alexandria."
Epiphanius as an outsider could not be expected to

understand the rites he describes, and as a narrow
bigot he could not be expected to deal with them fair-
ly. But the importance of the passage is the testi-
mony it bears to the fact that one of the most wide-
spread mystic festivals was connected with a "rite of
resurrection." You notice here the "crowing of the
cock" which is connected with the crucifixion of Jesus,
and the cross marked on the forehead, hands, and
knees or feet of the image, or the one who has re-
turned from the Underworld (Hades).
Epiphanius tells us that the mystic rite represents

a macrocosmic mystery. Very true, but it also rep-
resents a microcosmic mystery. The mystic birth,
death, and resurrection, were familiar to all the schools

and communities of ancient times, and the mystic
"rising again from the dead" was an integral part of
the universal mystic-drama.
The Initiations of Egypt are described by C. W.

Leadbeater, a well known theosophical writer, as fol-
lows: "The candidate was attired in a white-robe,
emblematic of the purity which was expected, and
brought before a conclave of priest-initiates in a sort
of vault or cavern. He was first formally tested as
to the development of the clairvoyant faculty which
he had been previously instructed how to awaken,
and for this purpose had to read an inscription upon
a brazen shield, of which the blank side was pre-
sented to his physical vision. Later he was left alone
to keep a kind of vigil. Certain mantrams, or words
of power, had been taught him, which were supposed
to be appropriate to control a certain class of entities.
. . . Other ceremonies of the Egyptian Mysteries
are of interest. ... At one stage of his advance-
ment the candidate laid himself upon a curiously hol-
lowed wooden cross and, after certain ceremonies, was
entranced. His body was then carried down into the
vaults underneath the temple or pyramid, while he
himself 'descended into Hades,' or the underworld
that is to say, in our modern nomenclature,
he passed on to the astral plane. Here he
had many experiences, part of his work being
to 'preach to the spirits in prison ;' for he
remained in that trance condition three days and
three nights, which typified the three rounds and
the intervals between them, during which man was go-
ing through the earlier part of his evolution, and de-

scending into matter. Then after 'three days and

three nights in the heart of the earth/ on the morn-
ing of the fourth day, 'he rose again from the dead,'
that is .... his body was brought back from the
vault, and so placed that the rays of the rising sun

fell upon his face and he awoke. This symbolizes the
awakening of man in the fourth round, and the com-
mencement of his ascent out of matter on the upward
arc of evolution." (Some Glimpses of Occultism, p.
73-)
According to Pietschmann, the Egyptian Mysteries

had three grades, called Mortals, Intelligences, and
Creators of Light. The Mortals were probationary
pupils, who were instructed in the doctrine, but who
had not yet realized the inner vision: The Intelli-
gences were those who had attained the inner vision
and had become men and received Mind. The Cre-
ators or Sons of Light were those who had become
one with the Light had attained to true spiritual
consciousness. These three stages are called by W.
Marsham Adams, Initiation, Illumination and Perfec-
tion. This state could be attained while yet in the
body, and included the after death consciousness as
a part of its content.
The ancient temples of Initiation in Egypt were

models of the "Heavenly Jerusalem," a type of the
world-building, to use a Jewish Gnostic term. Adams
describes the temple at Denderah thus, "In the center
of the temple is the Hall of the Altar, with entrances
opening east and west; and beyond it lies the great
hall of the temple entitled the Hall of the Child in
his Cradle, from whence access is obtained to the
secret and sealed shrine entered once a year by the
high priest, on the night of midsummer." (The Book

of the Master, or the Egyptian Doctrine of the Light
Born to the Virgin Mother, Adams, p. 24.) There
were also various other halls and chambers, such as
Hall of the Golden Rays, Chamber of Gold, Chamber
of Birth, Dwelling of the Golden One, Chamber of
Flames, all having reference to the Mysteries of
Light and a divine Birth. "The chief Hall of the
temple was the Hall of the Child in his Cradle, and
the chief representation on the planisphere is the holy
Mother with the divine Child in her arms." (I bid,
P. 24-)
THE HINDU MYSTERIES.

The Mysteries of India were celebrated in temples
carved out of solid rock; and in pyramids and dark
pagodas. The temple of Elephanta is perhaps the
most ancient in the world. It is one hundred and

thirty-five square and eighteen feet high, sup-
feet
ported by four massive pillars, and its walls are cov-

ered with statutes and carved emblematical decora-
tions. The temples of Salsette exceed in magnitude
those of Elephanta, though they are excavated in rock,
their external form being pyramidal. The interior has
many galleries and secret caverns, and in the inmost

recesses of the structure a "cubical cista" a sepul-
chre where the candidate was laid during his
entranced state.
An account of the Initiation
is given by Dr. Oliver
in hisHistory of Initiations which we herewith con-

dense as follows:
The mysteries were divided into four degrees. The

candidate might perform his first probation at the
early age of eight years. This consisted of an in-

vestiture of the Zennar or sacred cord of three
threads, corresponding to our "cable-tow." This in-
vestiture was attended with numerous ceremonies and
ended with an extended lecture from the preceptor.
After this the candidate was clothed in a linen gar-
ment without seams, and a cord put over his right
ear, and he was placed under the care of a Brahmin,
as a spiritual guide, to be instructed in the necessary
qualifications for the Second Degree. He was sub-

jected to many hardships and rigid penances and was
taught to preserve the purity of his body, to avoid
external defilements and to devote much time to
study of the sacred books. At the age of twenty, if
he were found tohave made suitable proficiency
in the preceding degree, he was admitted on probation
to the Second. Here his austerities were doubled.
At the conclusion of this probation he was Initiated
into the privileges of the Mysteries. Sanctified by
the sign of the Cross, which was marked on every
part of the body, he was subjected to the probation
of Pastos, which was denominated the door of Patala
or hell the Tartarus of the Grecian Mysteries. This
was the Mystical death. His perfection of the proba-
tionary period being attained, he was led, at the dead
of night, to the cave which had been duly prepared
for his reception; the interior of this cavern blazed
with a light equal to the meridian sun. There sat in
rich and costly robes the three chief hierophants, sta-
tioned in the East, West and South to represent the
Sacred Triad Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, with the

attendant Mystagogues, clad in holy vestments seated
around. The well known signal from the sacred bell
summoned the aspirant into the center of the august

assembly; when the ceremony commenced with an
anthem and solemn invocation. The oath was then ad-
ministered, after which the candidate was sprinkled
with water, and a mantra pronounced. He was then
divested of his shoes, that the consecrated ground on
which he stood might not be polluted, and was then
made to circumambulate the temple three times, ex-
claiming each time on his arrival in the south, "I copy
the example of the Sun, and follow his benevolent
course." Here we have the origin of the preparation
of the candidate, the circuits, etc., of Modern Ma-
sonry.
At the conclusion of the circuits, the candidate was
placed in the care of a spiritual guide, and directed
to observe proper silence during the succeeding cere-
monies. He was then passed through seven ranges
of dark and gloomy caverns; amid the din of howls,
shrieks and dismal lamentations, a sudden explosion
was heard which seemed to rend the mountains;
flashes of light streamed before his eyes, and then all
was darkness and silence. Gradually he beheld shad-
ows and phantoms of various shapes, some with many
hands, arms and legs, while others had none; the
most terrible and frightful figures appeared, all typi-
fying the generation of the Gods, and other sacred
mysteries.
The candidate then personified Vishnu, and was
made to perform his numerous Avatars. In the fifth
manifestation he took three steps at right angles, from
which we get the three steps, as in the Master's de-
gree, ending at right-angles. Al 1
these experiences
were designed to teach certain lessons, and illustrate
important truths, as the seven caverns, for instance,

bore an allusion to the seven-fold division of the in-
visible world the seven olaces of reward and pun-
ishment.
After all Conch was sound-

these trials, the pealing
ed, the folding doorswere thrown open, and the can-
didate was conducted into Paradise, which was a spa-
cious apartment blazing with a thousand brilliant
lights, ornamented with statues and emblematical fig-

ures, decorated profusely with gems and jewels. With
eyes riveted on the altar, he was taught to expect the
descent of the Deity in the bright pyramidal fire that
blazed upon it. This gorgeous display filled the mind
of the aspirant with admiration, and lighted up the
holy fervor of devotion in his heart. And now be-

ing fully regenerated, a new name was given him, ex-
pressive of his recently attained purity, and he was
introduced to the chief Brahmin, in the midst of the
august assembly, who received him as a brother and
associate, invested him with a white robe and tiara,
seated him in an elevated place, and solemnly deliv-
ered the signs, tokens, and lectures of the Order. His
forehead was marked with a cross. An inverted level
or tau cross, was inscribed on his breast, this was a
badge of innocence and a symbol of eternal life. He
was invested with the sacred sash or belt, and finally,
he was entrusted with the sublime Name which was
known only to the Initiated. The Arch Brahmin
then entered on an explanation of the various em-
blems which were arranged around him; with the
arcana of the hidden science enfolded under the holy
gloom of the mysterious veil.
An extensive system of symbolical instruction was

also used in the Hindu Mysteries, and their philoso-
phy was veiled under the impervious shade of hiero-
glyphical symbols, unintelligible to the profane, and

intended to lead them into a maze of error, from
which it was difficult to extract a single idea which
bore any semblance to the original truth. These
symbols were publicly displayed in their temples, bear-
ing streams of light to the Initiated ; while to the pro-

fane they were but an obscure mass of unintelligible
darkness. (Oliver's History of Initiations, Ch. //.)
THE PERSIAN MYSTERIES.
The Persian Mysteries or the Mysteries of Mithras

are among the most important of antiquity. Even
Pythagoras is from Greece to
said to have travelled
receive Initiation at the hands of those Persian Hiero-
phants. The candidates were prepared for Initiation
by various lustrations and forty degree-days of pro-
bation,which ended by a fifty-days fast. These trials
were undergone in a subterranean cavern, where the
candidate was bound to perpetual silence. At the
conclusion of his probation he was guided into the
Hall of Initiation, and received on the point of a sword
presented to his naked left breast. He was conducted
into the inner Chamber where he was purified by fire
and water, and then conducted through the seven
stages of Initiation. Dr. Oliver describes these stages
as follows: "From the precipice where he stood, he
beheld a deep and dangerous vault into which a single
false step might precipitate him down to the 'throne
of dreadful necessity,' which was an emblem of those
infernal regions through which he was about to pass.
Threading the circuitous mazes of the gloomy cavern,

he was soon awakened from his trance of thought, by
seeing the sacred fire, at intervals, flash through its
recesses to illuminate his path; sometimes bursting
from beneath his feet; sometimes descending on his
head broad sheet of white and shadowy flame.
in a
Amidst the admiration thus inspired, his terror was

excited by the distant yelling of ravenous beasts; the
roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the fierce and

threatening bark of dogs. Enveloped in blackest dark-
ness, hewas at a loss where to turn for safety ; but was
impelled rapidly forward by his attendant, who main-
tained an unbroken silence, towards the quarter from
whence the appalling sounds proceeded; and at the
sudden opening of a door he found himself in a den
of wild beasts, dimly enlightened with a single lamp.
His conductor exhorted him to courage, and he was
immediately attacked, amidst the most tremendous up-
roar, by the initiated in the forms of lions, tigers,
wolves, and other monstrous beasts; fierce
griffins,
dogs appeared to risefrom the earth, and with dread-

ful howlings endeavored to overwhelm the aspirant
with alarm; and how bravely soever his courage
might sustain him in this unequal conflict, he seldom
escaped unhurt.
Being hurried through this cavern into another, he

was once more shrouded in darkness. A dead silence
succeeded, and he was obliged to proceed with de-
liberate step, meditating on the danger he had just
escaped, and smarting under the wounds he had re-

ceived. His attention, however, was soon roused
from these reflections and directed to other dangers
which appeared to threaten. An undefined rumbling
noise was heard in a distant range of caverns, which

became louder and louder as he advanced, until the
pealing thunder seemed to rend the solid rocks and
burst the caverns around him and the vivid and con-
;
tinued flashes of lightning, in streaming sheets of

fire, rendered visible the flitting shades of avenging
genii, who, frowning displeasure, appeared to threaten

with summary destruction these daring intruders into
the privacy of their hallowed abodes. Scenes like
these were multiplied with increasing horror, until
nature could no longer endure the trial and when ;
the aspirant was ready to sink under the effects of ex-

haustion and mental agony, he was conveyed into an-
other apartment to recruit his strength. Here, a vivid
illumination was suddenly introduced, and his out-
raged feelings were soothed by the sound of melodious

music, and the flavor of grateful perfumes. Seated
at rest in this apartment, his guide explained the ele-
ments of those invaluable secrets which were more
fully developed when his initiation was complete.
Having pronounced himself disposed to proceed

through the remaining ceremonies, a signal was given
by his conductor, and three priests immediately made
their appearance ; one of whom, after a long and sol-
emn pause, cast; a living serpent into his bosom as a
token of regeneration; and a private door being
opened, there issued forth such howlings and cries
of lamentation and despair, as struck him with new
and indescribable emotions of terror. He turned his
eyes with an involuntary motion to the place from
whence these bewailings appeared to proceed, and
beheld in every appalling form, the torments of the
wicked in Hades. Turning from this scene of woe,
he was passed through some other dark caverns and

passages; until, having sucessfully threaded the laby-
rinth, consisting of six spacious vaults, connected by
winding galleries, each opening with a narrow stone
1
portal, the scene of some perilous adventure; and

having, by the exercise of fortitude and perse-
verance, been triumphantly borne through this ac-
cumulated mass of difficulty and danger; the doors of
the seventh vault, or Sacellum, were thrown open, and
his darkness was changed into light. He was ad-
mitted into the spacious and lofty cavern already de-
scribed, which was denominated the sacred grotto of
Elysium. This consecrated place was brillinatly il-
luminated, and sparkled with gold and precious stones.
A splendid sun and starry system emitted their daz-
zling radiance, and moved in order to the symphonies
of heavenly music. Here sat the Archimagus in the
East, elevated on a throne of burnished gold, crowned
with a rich diadem decorated with myrtle boughs,
and habited in a flowing tunic of a bright cerulean
tincture; round him were arranged in solemn order
the Presules, and dispensers of the mysteries; form-
ing altogether a reverend assembly, which covered
the awe-struck aspirant with a profound feel-
ing of veneration; and by an involuntary impulse,
frequently produced an act of worship. Here he was
received with congratulations; and after having en-
tered into the usual engagements for keeping secret
the sacred rites of Mithras, the sacred words were
entrusted to him, of which the ineffable Tetractys, or
Name of God, was the chief. (History of Initiation,
Oliver, Ch. IV.)
The candidate was then instructed in the secret

science. The meaning of the emblems was ex-

plained, the incidents experienced converted to a
moral purpose, and their significance made clear.
Nothing was done without a purpose and every ex-
perience illustrated some truth and fact in nature.
What they were designed to set forth we shall see in
subsequent lectures.
Suffice it here to say, that the Mithra-Mystery was

identical with the Christ-Mystery the mystery of
man's perfection and final apotheosis.
"The secret of regeneration, of being born anew or

spiritually, or from above in brief, the divinizing of
man, was the last word of the Mithra-rites ; all else
13 introductory or ancillary. This secret was the one
secret of all the great mystery-rites and mystery-
arts." (Mysteries of Mithra, Mead, p. 47.)
A Ritual dealing with the mystery of apotheosis

and used by the most advanced in the Mithraic eso-
teric circles has recently been discovered. It is a
"yoga-rite," one far in advance of the lower grades
of Initiation. Initiation does not mean consumma-

tion it is merely starting things going. The candi-
date, to make the initiation valid, must "sealup the
links," so to speak, and this Mithraic Ritual has to do
with the final stages of spiritual evolution. (For a
complete exposition of this Ritual see "A Mithraic
Ritual," by G. R. S. Mead.)
Besides the various rites of Initiation already de-

scribed, we find the same sacraments in the Mys-
teries that in later years were administered in the
Christian Church.
Justin Martyr, 150 A. D., says that the evil demons

in the Mysteries of Mithras aped the Christian Eu-
charist, for there was an offering of bread and of a
cup of water with certain explanatory sacred for-
mulae. (Justin Martyr First Apology, Vol. II., Sec.
LIV, LXII, LXVI, Second Apology Sec. XIII.)
Tertullian, 210 A. D., in speaking of the Mithraic
Mysteries, says, "He, too, baptizes some that is, his
own believers and faithful followers; he promises
the putting away of sins by a laver (of
his own) ; and if
my memory still serves me,
Mithra there, (in the kingdom of Satan,) sets
his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers;

celebrates also the bread, and in-
oblation of
troduces an image of a resurrection, and before a
sword wreaths a crown." (Prescription Against
Heretics, Ch. XL.)
Tertullian also explains the identities by resorting
to the convenient theory of the Devil aping the Chris-
tian forms. But this curious explanation will hardly
find adherents to-day it is difficult to accept the
earlier as copies, and the more recent as originals.
We shall see later the origin and meaning of these
similarities.
Thus we find in the ancient Egyptian, Hindu and

Persian Mysteries, a system of religious culture and
training that originated thousands of years ago, and
which through many centuries preserved and handed
down the Master's Word to those who had made suf-
ficient progress, and were thereby "duly and truly pre-
pared" to receive it.
These great Institutions were the wonder of the

world, hence it is not strange that they received the
highest praise from all the great men of antiquity.
LECTURE III.
THE DRUIDICAL, GOTHIC, GRECIAN, AND

JEWISH MYSTERIES.
We are to continue in this lecture our examination
of the Mysteries of antiquity. We will consider first
THE DRUIDICAL MYSTERIES.
The Druidical Mysteries were the same as the Cel-

tic, and were celebrated in many countries. We are
told by Caesar that these Mysteries were better un-
derstood in Britain than anywhere else.
All temples, in whatever country, had places of In-

itiation connected with them, and they were usually
subterranean. The great grotto at Castleton in Der-
byshire bears evidence that the celebration of the
Druidical Mysteries was of an elaborate nature; the
temple at Abury was also a stupendous structure, and
was built in the form of a circle.
The periods of Initiation were quarterly and were

held at the time of the equinoxes and solstices. There
were three degrees in the Druidical Mysteries
Eubatea, Bards, and Druids, and it was obligatory
that the candidate for Initiation be well qualified and
duly prepared mental and moral perfection being the

first requisite. When the candidate had passed the
probationary stage he was clad in a robe, striped with
white, blue, and green, emblematical of light, truth,
and hope, and confined in a cromlech (tomb) for

parts of three days without food, dead, in the lan-
guage of the Mysteries, after which he was liberated
for Initiation, and restored to life on the third day.
This confinement preceded his Initiation into each of
the two first degrees. When the Aspirant was liber-
ated he was placed in the hands of an officer and con-
ducted around the sanctuary nine times, at first with
slow and measured step, which at length was in-
creased to a rapid pace. During the circuits there
was a clang of musical instruments and recitations in
praise of those who were heroic in war, courteous in
peace, and the friends of religion. At the completion
of this ceremony the oath of secrecy was administered
and the aspirant then went through various ceremo-
nies in which he represented many characters, declar-
ing among other things, "I have died," and "I have
revived," alluding to his mystical death and resur-
rection.
In the second part of the ceremony there was the

dismal darkness, the direful shrieks, the barking dogs,
etc., with which we have been made familiar in the
preceding Mysteries. The aspirant finally emerged

from the gloom, and found himself surrounded with
the most brilliant coruscations of light, being then
presented to the Archdruid, who instructed him in the

Mysteries, imparting the knowledge of Druidism, and
exhorting him to the practice of virtue.
There was still another degree to be administered

to those who aspired to a high degree of perfection.
To obtain this further advancement they were sub-
jected to the most arduous purification and were
com-
Druidical, Gothic, Grecian, and Jewish Mysteries 53
mitted to the tomb for nine months, where in soli-
tude they studied theology, philosophy, cosmogony,

astronomy, etc. Dr. Oliver says this was "The death
and burial of the Mysteries and on its expiration he
;
was said to be newly born from the womb of Ceri-
dwen, and was pronounced a regenerate person,

cleansed from his former impurities by the mystical
contents of her cauldron." (History of Initiation,
Oliver, p. 146.)
When the period of gestation in the womb of Cer id-

wen was complete, as the confinement in the tomb
was termed, the candidate was ready for further in-
struction. Another trial, however, must be braved
before the highest degree of light could be conferred.
The candidate, now called the "new born infant," was
placed in a boat, and committed to the mercy of the
waves. If he succeeded in securing a safe landing
place, he was triumphantly received, and this comple-
tion of the Three Degrees made the aspirant, a "thrice
born" conferring upon, him the power of inspiration
and prophecy in the highest form.
The Druids maintained a high intellectual standard,

for they taught their disciples astronomy, botany, an-
atomy, languages, medicine, etc. Thus we see the

Mysteries were always repositories of Wisdom.
THE GOTHIC MYSTERIES.
The Gothic Mysteries were

practiced at one time by
allthe northern nations of Europe ; we trace their in-
troduction to Sigge, a Scythian Prince, who lived in
the first century B. C.
There were three great festivals connected with the

Gothic Mysteries. The most significant was celebrat-
ed at the winter Solstice and dedicated to Thor. The
next celebration was dedicated to Frea and com-
menced at the second moon in the new year. The
third was dedicated to Odin and was held in the
spring. These were the principal celebrations, but

Initiations were also performed at many smaller fes-
tivals held during the year.
The Palace of Thor, the principal place of Initia-
tions, contained five hundred and forty halls and was

situated in the kingdom of Thurdwanger.
The Gothic Mysteries, like all others, were con-

nected with the Mystery Myth, differing only in de-
tail. The Gothic version runs as follows: Balder,
who was esteemed as invulnerable, had in the general
asisembly placed himself in sport as a mark at which
the gods exercised their skill in casting darts. Odin

and Friga exacted an oath of safety in favor of Balder
from everything in nature except the mistletoe, which
was omitted on account of its weakness. Loki dis-
covered the exception and placed a sprig in the hands
of the blind Hoder, persuaded him to cast it at Balder,
who fell, pierced through with mortal wounds. His
body was then placed in a boat and set afloat on the
water, while the gods mourned for his decease. "The
fable of Balder and Loki," says Dr. Oliver, "with the
lamentations of the gods for the death of Balder,
bears such an obvious relation to those of Osiris and
Typhon, Bacchus and the Titans, Cama, Iswara, etc.,
that I entertain no doubt but that it constituted the
Legend of Initiation; as it is, indeed, the exact coun-

terpart of all other systems of mysterious celebra-

tion." (Ibid, p. 174, note 34.)
It would be needless repetition to go into detail
regarding these Initiations. Suffice it to say that
after the candidate was duly prepared, by the usual
fastingand the preliminary ceremonies of sacrifice,

was conducted with naked feet
processions, etc., he
and through a winding pathway,
into the sacred hall
amid shades of darkness and the howling of dogs, to
the tomb of the prophetess Volva. Here occured
the mysterious rites of invocation. Passing onward
the candidate hears the bewailings for the death of the
God, Balder. He was then confined in the Pastos or

tomb, and guarded by Heimdal, the door keeper of
the Gods upon liberation he was instructed to search
;
for the body of Balder, and to endeavor to raise him

from death to life.
Before starting on his dangerous expedition he was
recommended to the protection of the Gods. The
guide then conducted him through nine subterranean
passages, where various experiments of awe and ter-
ror awaited him. Completing his journey he entered
the illuminated sacellum, and found Balder enthroned
on a seat of highest distinction. His entrance was
greeted with an anthem of congratulation, and great
rejoicing took place for the resuscitation of the God.
The candidate then took a solemn oath on a naked
sword a symbol of the supreme God. Throughout
the ceremonies the candidate had been impersonating
Balder that is, his experiences were the same as
Balder's, who, as a perfect type or first
Initiate, is the
fruits of human evolution. The candidate had then
attained the Balder-state of manhood.
THE GRECIAN MYSTERIES.

The Mysteries were introduced into Greece by Or-
pheus. This great Teacher evidently led one of the
waves of emigration of the Aryan stock into Europe.
The Orphic tradition had various fortunes. In the
days of Homer it was neglected, for the people were
too proud to listen to what they regarded as the su-
perstition of their forefathers, but with the rise of
philosophy in the seventh century B. C. the earlier
religious Myths were again examined, and it became
evident that ancient Greece possessed a Mystery-tra-
dition which compared favorably with that of other
nations.
Wedo not know exactly the time when the Mys-

tery institutions were established but we do know that
they existed under various names Eleusinian, Bac-
chic, Dionysiac, Samothracean, etc., and that all were
practically the same. The Eleusinian were perhaps
the most noted as they constituted what might be
called the State Mysteries. In these there were two
divisions the Lesser and the Greater, beyond which
was the true Mystery of the Path. The center of the
work of the Lesser Mysteries was at Agrae; the
Greater at Eleusis. The Lesser Mysteries dealt prin-
cipally with Hades or the Aistral world; the Great-
er with the Mental or Heavenly world. The cere-
monial garment in the Lesser Mysteries was a
fawn skin; in the Greater Mysteries a golden-fleece,
The candidates for Initiation were naturally divided
into two classes those who were only capable of re-
ceiving instruction in the things pertaining to the un-
seen, and those who were capable of special training
in the development of clairvoyance ; instruction was

also given in cosmology, anthropogenesis, etc.
The Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated with

much pomp and lasted nine days. The
places of In-
itiation, like those of other nations, were great sub-
terranean caverns, containing many chambers and sep-
ulchres in which the candidate was immured during
a part of the ceremonial rite. Some of these places
of Initiation, with their tombs cut into the solid rock,
are described at length by Mr. Maundrill. Every
temple had a cavern connected with it for Initiation.
In some countries the place of Initiation was a pyr-
amid erected over a subterranean cavern.
The first portion of the ceremony among the Greeks

was the purification by water. The candidate was
then conducted to the vestibule and invested with the
sacred robes, and after being exhorted to courage the
aspirant was led through a series of caverns, where
he met with practically the same experiences as we
have found in the other Mysteries the dark and
gloomy surroundings, the pealing thunder, the howl-
ing dogs and wild beasts, the flashes of vivid light,
monstrous appearances, etc. After three days of
these terrors, he was confined in a cell for reflection.
Dr. Oliver says, "This was the symbolical death of the
Mysteries; and the deliverance from confinement
was the act of regeneration or new birth; and
hence the rejuvenated aspirant was termed twice
born; once from the womb of his natural mother and
again from the pastos of Initiation." (Ibid, p. 98.)
This deliverance was rather a resurrection than a
new birth; the latter applying more properly to the
firststage of Initiation, although, in one sense, every

stage that marks an extension of consciousness is
a
new birth.
While the aspirant was undergoing the mystical

death of Bacchus, the Initiates acted out the Myth.
We have seen that this passion-vision was a part of
every mystery-drama. The neophyte here experi
enced the Great Passion himself. This feeling was
a prerequisite to knowing. What it was we do not
know, but it had to do with the mystic death of the
Master. During this part of the drama there were
loud lamentations over the death of their God, and
Rhea, like Isis, went in search of his remains.
At a given signal from the Hierophant the mourn-

ing was turned into joy, for it was announced that the
body had been found and restored to life. The can-
didate was liberated from his confinement, and after
various experiences in the infernal regions, gained the
verdant plains of Elysium, where the souls of the just
were observed in the enjoyment of pure delights.
Here the Hierophant delivered a lecture on the

purpose of the Mysteries; gave the usual instruction
in the secret science, and bestowed the
insignia of
the Order. Clement says of the Greek Mysteries,
"After these (the lustrations) are the minor Myster-
ies, which have some foundation of instruction
and of
preliminary preparation for what is to
come and the great Mysteries., in which noth-
after;
ing remains to be learned of the universe, but only to
contemplate and comprehend nature and things,"
(Stromata, Book V, Ch. XL)
The Bacchic or Dionysiac Mysteries grew to be mere
festivities toward the last, and Bacchus himself re-
garded as the god of wine, instead of the manifesta-
tion of the Logos. The Mysteries of Greece and
Rome shared the same decadence as the nations. We
cannot judge them by their relics, any more than we
can judge the grandeur of Rome by the period of her
decay.
Besides the public Mysteries there were the ancient

schools of philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato, which
have sometimes been called the private or philosophic
Mysteries. The founders of these schools were In-
itiates. Pythagoras is said to have been initialed into
the Egyptian, Chaldean, Orphic and Eleusinian Mys-
teries. These schools of philosophy worked in con-
nection with the Mystery-teaching. It is a mistake
to suppose that Pythagoras and Plato formulated a
new doctrine, for their philosophy was part and par-
cel of the old Wisdom which had been handed down
by the Hierophants Mysteries. The
through the
genius of these great teachers consisted in clothing

the great truths, enshrined in the ancient Myths, in
modes of thought suitable to the time. In the Pytha-
gorean schools the students were divided into three
degrees or classes. The followers of Pythagoras
were noted for purity of life and loftiness of aim and
is to
purpose, and the higher religious life of Greece
be sought in this connection.
There Orphic communities which de-

were also
serve mention. The members of these communities
were known as Orphics, and were said to live the
Orphic life, a life of holiness. It was with these
communities that the Pythagoreans took refuge when

their school at Crotona was broken up.
THE JEWISH MYSTERIES.

The ancient Jews had their Mysteries, as well as
all other peoples of antiquity. Mr. Elbe in his book
(Future Life, p. 107) says that it appears to be an es-
tablished fact that the Israelites had their Mysteries,
as well as the Egyptians and the majority of ancient
races. Although they had these secrets, occult
knowledge and kabbalistic teaching, which passed
form mouth to ear for generations among the Jewish
Priests, as did the Brahrninical teaching before it was

reduced to writing, yet we do not find the Jewish
rites as elaborate as those practiced by other na-
tions. The Jewish Kabbalistic doctrines were not
written down until the first century of our era. Rabbi
Eleazar, the son of Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai, com-
piled the Kabbalistic teaching of his father into a
work called the Zohar, but these teachings did not
originate with that noted Rabbi, they reach far into
remote antiquity. This book, which was edited be-
tween 70 and 100 A. D., was lost, and its sacred con-
tents were preserved only in a number of scattered
manuscripts.
The Zohar was rewritten, according to Munk, by

Moses de Leon, in the I3th century, and was based
upon those fragmentary manuscripts and ancient doc-
uments which have been partially destroyed or lost
to the general world.
The Sepher Jetzerah (or Jewish Book of Creation)

is first mentioned in the loth century, although its
contents are very ancient. These two books, the Zo-

har and Jetzerah, are the storehouse of all subsequent
Kabbalistic works.
The Kabbalistic writings, then, are comparatively

modern, but their doctrines came to the Jews from
the Chaldeans and Egyptians. Moses was an In-
itiate, and knew the primitive universal mystery-lan-
guage, also the numerical system on which it was

based, but his writings have not come down to us
the books attributed to him are not the original Mo-
saic Records.
The early Hebrew teachings derived from Moses

had various fortunes the original scrolls were prob-
ably lost and rewritten many times before the days
of Ezra, and when the Jews were carried away into
captivity, the Jewish Scriptures were destroyed.
Ezra endeavored to restore them as best he could, but
they have been tampered with even since his day. The
Samaritans repudiate the Jewish canonical books.
They are disfigured, they say, beyond all recognition
by the Talmudists. They have their books of Moses,
differing materially, yet claimed by the Samaritans to
be carefully copied from the original.
The Black Jews of Southern India know nothing

of the captivity, thus proving that they emigrated pre-
vious to 600 B. C. They also have a Book of Moses
which differs greatly from either of the above canon-
ical books.
Although the Jews are right in declaring that Moses

originallygave them their cosmology and laws, still
the records of these laws have been so changed that
the present books attributed to him are not the orig-
inal books at all. Some fragments of the earlier
writings and traditions may have been available at

the time of Ezra, but in all probability the main alle-
gories were taken from the symbolical records of the

Chaldeans, as the earlier allegories had been adopt-
ed from similar records in Egypt.
The doctrine of the Kabbalah is practically the

same as that of the ancient universal teaching. Ain
Soph is the western and Semitic Parabrahman. Be-
tween the Absolute Ain Soph and the Heavenly Man,
there is an impersonal First Cause. Dr Ginsburg
says, "For to reveal itself to us, the concealed of all
the concealed sent forth the Ten Emanations (Se-
phoroth) called the Form of God, Form of the Heaven-
ly Man. Yet since even; this luminous form was too
dazzling for our vision, it had to put on another gar-
ment, whkh is the universe. The universe, therefore,
or the visible world, is a further expression of the
Divine Substance, and is called in the Kabbalah, The
Garment of God." This is the doctrine of the Vishnu
Parana and in fact of all the schools. But it is not
my purpose here to expound the teaching of the Mys-
teries, so we must forego further comment.
The Kabbalah is of value in throwing light upon

the exoteric Hebrew books, although it has been so
changed that it cannot be trusted to reveal the ancient
teaching unless corroborated by other data.
In the early times there Was a company of prophets

at Naioth, Bethel, and Jericho, who formed schools
of Initiates where the secret teaching was imparted to
those who were qualified to hear. These schools of
the prophets were also schools for the development of
the higher psychic and spiritual faculties, while in

later times the Essenes, Theraputes, and other com-
munities, were the repositories of the occult Jewish

teaching. It will be interesting here to consider these
well known sects.
THE ESSENES.
For some centuries before the Christian era the Es-
senean communities dwelt on the shores of the Dead
Sea. Their chief characteristic was the doctrine of
love love of God, love of virtue, and love of human
kind. They lived a life of ascetic communism in
which certain hours were devoted to the study of re-
ligion the mysteries of nature and revelation. They
had an inner instruction, an occult teaching, which
was guarded with great secrecy. They were evidently
in contact with Chaldean Kabbalism as they made
much of the mysteries connected with the Tetragram-
maton, the four lettered mystic name of Deity.
The Essenes had their degrees and Initiations, in

which we find the identity of teaching between Es-
senism and Christianity is most marked. Mr. Mead
sums up these points of contact somewhat as
follows : Converts were required to sell their po-
sessions and give to the poor, for the
laying
up of treasure was regarded as injurious to a
spiritual life. Not only did the Essenes despise
but they lived a life of self-imposed poverty.
riches,
Love of the brotherhood and of one's neighbor was
the soul of Essene life, and the basis of all action;
and this characteristic of their discipline called
forth universal admiration. The members lived to-
gether as a family, had all things in common, and ap-

pointed a steward to manage the common purse. When

traveling they would lodge with brethren whom they
had never seen before, as though with the oldest and
most intimate friends; and thus they took nothing
with them when they went on a journey. All members
were on the same level, and the authority of one over
another was forbidden; nevertheless mutual service
was mutually enjoined. They were also great lovers
of peace, and so refused to take arms or manufacture
warlike weapons; moreover they proscribed slavery.
The ultimate aim of the Essenes was to be meek and
lowly in spirit, to mortify all sinful lusts, to be pure
in heart, to hate evil but reclaim the evil doer, and to
be merciful to all men and moreover, their yea was to
be yea, and their nay, nay. They were devoted to the
curing of the sick and the healing of both body and
soul, regarding the power to perform miraculous cures
and cast out evil spirits as the highest stage of dis-
cipline. In brief, they strove to be so pure as to be-

come temples of the Holy Spirit, and thus seers and
prophets. To these inner communities were attached
outer circles of pupils living in the world, and found in
all the main centres of the Diaspora. (Fragments
of a Faith Forgotten, Mead, p. 134.)
The Therapeutes were practically the same as the Es-

senes with the exception, pointed out by Philo, that
the latter were devoted to the practical life, while the
former proceeded to the higher stages of the con-
templative life.
It would be interesting, did time permit, to give a

fullaccount of these Therapeutist communities, which
were so like early Christianity that the Church Path-
ers always recognized them as Christians. Philo in his

"Contemplative Life," gives a full description of these
"Wisdom Lovers." Through their yearning for the
blessed life they abandoned the world
and sought some
secluded spot, and gave themselves entirely to study
and contemplation. In Egypt there were many in
every Province, and especially around Alexandria.
The most advanced joined the Mareotic colony, which
was situated just south of Alexandria on a small
plateau. The dwellings of this community were very
simple, each containing a small chamber or closet in
which, in solitude, they performed the mysteries of
the holy life.
Philo would lead us to believe that the Therapeutes

were all Jews. This was probably true of the Mare-
otic community with which he was connected as lay

pupil, but this was only one of a vast number of such
communities scattered all over the world. It is quite
probable that many of these were as strongly tinged

with Egyptian or Zoroastrian or Orphic elements as
the one south of Alexandria was with Judaism. Many
of these communities were purely eclectic com-
bining traditions and elements of the various
schools.
THE PHARISEES.
We are fairly familiar with the external side of
Phariseeism the minute ceremonialism and elaborate
rules of external piety but the inner side is not so
well understood. The most learned of the Jews be-
longed to this sect, which originated in Babylon, and
represented the main stream of Chaldean and Persian
influence on Judaism. In the course of time it became
divided into many schools, the strictest of which led

a life of internal piety. The highest aim of this school
was to attain to such a state of holiness, as to be able

to perform miraculous cures and to prophesy. The
degrees of holiness practiced by this sect are given by
Mr. Mead as follows: (i.) the study of the law and
circumspection; (n.) the noviciate, in which the apron

was a symbol of purity; (in.) external purity, by
means of lustrations or baptisms; (IV.) celibacy;
(V.) inward purity, purity of thought; (VI.) a still
higher stage, which is not further defined; (VII.)
meekness and holiness; (VIII.) dread of every sin;
(IX.) the highest stage of holiness; (X.) the stage
which enabled the adept to heal the sick and raise the
dead. (Ibid, p. 133.)
evident that there was a wide difference

It is quite
between the tenets of the Healers and the other Phar-

isees who believed in the blood sacrifices of the
Temple-worship and the resurrection of the physical

body. This again illustrates the difference between
the exoteric and esoteric cults.
All these mystic schools constituted links in the

chain of the Wisdom or Gnosis transmission. Jesus
himself taught nothing new, he merely illuminated the
traditions of the Gnosis, and in his public teaching
practically threw open to allsome of the intermediate
grades of the Mysteries. The Jews, then, in common
with all the ancient nations, were in possession of an
occult teaching, which is the same old Wisdom Re-
ligion, that has ever stood as the background of the

popular religious systems.
The distinction sometimes made between re-
ligions that the Jewish and Christian are pure, and

that the Pagan is is an error due to a very
spurious,
narrow conception. The higher criticism and recent
study of comparative religions has shown us that we
can no longer hold to the belief in one perfect su-
pernatural religion, condemning all others as false.
That God left the world to wander in darkness
until two, three or four thousand years ago is contra-
dicted by every Sage, and by the great body of re-
ligious literature that preceded the Jewish and Chris-

tian eras. God is no respecter of persons, therefore
no religion has a monopoly of truth. Each great
World-Faith has a part to play in the Divine Economy.
While we recognize Jesus as the great Initiate and
Messenger to the Western world, let us not ignore the
other Divine Teachers whom God has sent as Mes-
sengers from the same Great Lodge. The same Wis-
dom illuminated them all they are all kindred and be-
long to the same Great Brotherhood.
Limited time has prevented me from going into

greater details regarding the ceremonies of Initiation.
Enough, however, has been said to bear out the fact
that all the Mysteries of antiquity have a common or-
igin. They bear the most striking resemblance to each

other both in ceremonies and doctrines. Thus, we
have seen that Initiations in all the Mysteries were
set forth in a Mystery-Myth, sometimes called the
Sun-Myth, which in its various settings symbolizes the
activity of the Logos, on the one hand, and the mystic
life of the Initiate on the other. The hero of the
Myth, representing the Solar Logos and the Perfect
Initiate, was known by different names in different
countries Osiris-Horus in Egypt, Ormazd-Mithra in

Persia, Zeus-Hermes in Greece, Jupiter-Ammon in
Rome, Thor-Balder in Britain and Scandinavia.
The knew the real meaning of these

Initiates
Myths, for Sun is not born and does not

literally the
die, nor is it raised from the dead. The recitals of
these events are allegories, which veil a deeper truth.
In the popular religions the Sun became the object of
worship, and the Hero of the Myths became the God
of the various religions when the symbol was mistaken
for the thing symbolized. The Myth is an allegory
of the activity of the Logos in the Cosmos, and of the
various stages of Initiation, and like all the rites, it
typifies the mystic life of every Initiate. Every per-
fected Master becomes a Christ, a Hermes, etc. In-
itiation consists in attaining the Master-state. A fail-
ure to understand these symbols and allegories resulted

in the crude dogmas of popular theology. Many have
read this later thought into the Mysteries themselves,
and have supposed that the rites merely symbolized the
death and resurrection of some Hero or Demi-God
some special divine personage who was considered by
the celebrants as a God. According to this the aspir-
ant was merely representing the death and resurrection
of the God from whom, the Mysteries derived their
name. This crude conception falls far short of the
reality, for the cosmic aspect of allthese religious trag-
edies was symbolized by the activity of the Logos in
the universe, but these Sun-Myths also typify the
mystic life The Initiate did not merely
of the Initiate.
represent some Hero, he was the Hero himself, and
the rites typified what he became a Buddha, a
Christ, a Mithra, etc., one whose mystic life repre-
sented the mystic lives of all who had previously

trod the path, though that was not the primary
significance of the ceremony.
Perhaps after the Mysteries became corrupt and de-

graded, so-called Initiates might have mis-read the al-
legories and symbols, but such was not the case in the
days of the real Initiates before the key to the
Sacred Science was lost.
The use of the image, in some instances employed

to represent the candidate, evidently came into use
when the Institution had become so changed that the
candidate objected to being laid away in the tomb, as
was originally the custom, and another indication of
decline was the physical terror to which the candidate
was subjected. This was to test his courage and was
supposed to illustrate the experiences he would
meet in the invisible world.
In the early days, we

are told, the candidate was en-
tranced when laid in the tomb, he then actually
away
visited the invisible world and encountered the gro-
tesque images and forms to be seen there. He was

taught the "words of power" and the "signs of power,"
although they were only a means of strengthening the
will, which alone, however, is sufficient to overcome
thephantomed terrors. The Hierophant also used his
occultpower to materialize illustrations of various
postmortem conditions.
That the Mysteries were designed to reveal the in-
visible world, is clearly stated by Plutarch, who was
himself an Initiate of high standing. He says that
when a man dies he goes through the same experiences
as those who have their consciousness increased in the
Mysteries. Thus in the terms, 'to die' and 'to be In-

itiated' we have an exact correspondence, word to word
and fact to fact. First of all there are wanderings
and weary journey ings and paths on which we look
with suspicion, and that seem to have no termination;
then, before the end, every kind of terror, shuddering,
trembling, sweating, stupor. But at last a marvelous
light shines out to meet us, pure scenes and fair fields
welcome us, with song and dance and the solemnities
of sacred sounds and holy sights. In which state he
who has already perfected himself in all things, and
received Initiation, accomplishes his mystery, reaches
his full freedom, and passing everywhere at will, he re-
ceives the crown, and is in communion with the holy
and pure ; now gazing down upon the unpurified
multitude of the uninitiated who are still in
life,wallowing in the deep mire and mist, and
abiding in misery from fear of death and want of
faith in the blessedness of the soul-life. (Plut. Frag.
V. 9 ed. Didot.}
The
vision of Aridaeus^ also given by Plutarch was,
according to Mead, either a literary subterfuge for

describing some of the instruction in certain Mysteries,
or a partial description of the invisible world and the
conditions of the soul after death, although, as we have
said, the former was a revelation of the latter. But
when the power to directly reveal the future state was
lost, they had to illustrate
by dramatic and scenic
it
representations. To produce the ghostly images and

phantoms in the physical plane Mysteries, actors, and
even mirrors were often used not as a deception,
however, for everybody understood that these were
illustrations only.
With the loss of the higher means of revelation,

corruption gradually crept in and man at last was
left to win his deliverance without the visible aid
of the Great Teachers, yet we are assured by wise
preceptors that those great souls remain constant,

even though unseen, and are ever ready to aid and
assist the needy whenever they comply with the
great occult law of the universe.
THE DECLINE OF THE MYSTERIES.
The cause of the decline of the Mysteries was the
personal ambition of crafty priests and despotic rulers.

They began to lose this grandeur and glory before the
days of Aristotle, their retrogression, however, was

gradual for at the time of Cicero they retained much
;
of their early sanctity and purity, and even as late

as the time of Nero, for as unscrupulous as he be-
came he did not dare to aid in the celebra-
tion of the Mysteries after commiting a hideous
crime. The great occult knowledge which had
moved westward for thousands of years began
about 500 B. C. to recede to its Eastern sourse.
Owing to the Ethiopian invasion 570 B. C., the royal

throne fell into the hands of Amases, a man of low
birth, who destroyed the priestly order. It is not
strange, that in the decadence of Greece and Rome,

even the Mysteries should share in the general degra-
dation. Selfishness ruled with an iron hand and be-
fore the end of the Roman
Empire, the true spirit of
the Mysteries was withheld, leaving only the outer
forms behind. It would be unfair to judge the real
Mysteries from the relics of this period.
The
last of the Pagan Mysteries in Europe disap-
peared with the destruction of the great cities of Gaul

Alesia, Bibractis and Aries, and although the great
world-wide institution nearly perished except in the
East, the secret doctrine was not lost, nor entirely
abandoned even in the West. It is quite a task to fol-
low it through the shifting religious life of the
Middle Ages, but recent investigations have shown
that it has been unbrokenly continued in secret
fraternities from age to age. We shall trace this
descent in a future lecture.
LECTURE IV.
THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES.
The Christian Religion, in common with all the
great religions of antiquity, originally possessed an in-
ner or occult teaching.
W. J. B. MacLeod Moore 33, Supreme Grand Mas-

ter"Ad Vitam" of the Sovereign Priory of Canada,
United Orders of the Temple of Malta, says 'The
:
secrets of the Mystery of Christianity were only

communicated to the Initiates, and these Initiates were
first made Christians, then advanced in Christianity,
and finally raised to a knowledge of all its Aporrheta.
There were three degrees or steps in Christianity ,and
its religious system was known as the 'Disciplina Ar-
cana' the discipline of the secret. There was an eso-

teric and exoteric doctrine. The three classes who
received the three degrees of the primitive church
were the 'Catechumens,' the 'Competentes,' and the 'II-
luminati.' degree of Christianity the can-

In the first
didate was baptized. Baptism introduced the be-

liever to the Christian Mystery. The sacred doctrines
taught in the several degrees were those of the
'Trinity in Unity/ the 'Incarnation of the Logos

or Son of God,' 'the Crucifixion,' 'the Resur-
rection,' and the 'Secret of the Liturgy.' Bap-
tism initiated candidate, while a participa-
the
tion in the Lord's Supper, or Eucharist, marked
the raising of the candidate to the highest

de-
gree of Christian light and doctrine. All through

the writings of the early Fathers of the Church refer-
ence is made to the Christian Mysteries and theit
secret doctrines. Initiates were strictly forbidden to
any reference to them." (History
paint, cut or carve
of Freemasonry and Concordant Orders, p. 746.)
Before we examine the records to see if this con-
tention can be substantiated, let us first note something
of the Christian movement. The origin of Christi-
anity is involved in great obscurity. Even the period

at which Jesus lived is a matter of controversy. The
following occult account accords with the Talmud in
stating that Jesus lived in the days of King Jannai,

who reigned over the Jews 104 to 78 B. C., and is as
follows "The child whose Jewish name has been
:
turned into that of Jesus was born in Palestine, B. C.

105, during the consulate of Publicus Rutilus Rufus
and Gnaeus Mallius Maximus. His parents were
well-born though poor, and he was educated in a
knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures. His fervent
devotion and a gravity beyond his years led his par-
ents to dedicate him to the religious and ascetic life,
and, soon after a visit to Jerusalem, in which the ex-

traordinary intelligence and eagerness for knowledge
of the youth were shown in his seeking of the doctors
in the Temple, he was sent to be trained in an Essene
community in the southern Judean desert. When he

had reached the age of nineteen he went on to the Es-
sene Monastery near Mount Serbal, a monastery which
was much visited by learned men traveling from Per-
sia and India to Egypt, and where a
magnificent li-
brary of occult works many of them Indian of the
The Christian Mysteries
Trans-Himalayan regions had been established. From

this seat of mystic learning he proceeded later to
Egypt. He had been fully instructed in the secret
teachings which were the real fount of life among the
Essenes, and was Egypt as a disciple of
initiated in
that one Sublime Lodge from which
every great re-
ligion has its Founder. For Egypt has remained one
of the world centres of the true
Mysteries, whereof
all semi-public
Mysteries are the faint and far-off
reflections. The Mysteries spoken of in
history as
Egyptian, were the shadows of the true things 'in the
Mount,' and there the young Hebrew received the
solemn consecration which prepared him for the Royal
Priesthood he was later to attain." (Esoteric Christi-
anity Besant, p. 128 & 129.)
The time having come for the founding of a new

religion, a suitable tabernacle was needed for the Great
Teacher who was to be sent into the world. Jesus of-
fered his body as a willing sacrifice. One called the
Christ took possession of Jesus' body at the age of
29, and for two years instructed the heads of the Es-
sene communities, and for one year he taught the
general public. It is only of the last year's work that
some tradition preserved for us in the Gospel story.
is
He was finally rejected by the Essenes because he car-

ried to the outer world some portions of the spiritual
wisdom which they regarded as their exclusive possess-
ion. The clouds of hatred thickened until finally the
body of Jesus paid the penalty for enshrining the Great
Teacher. But the Master did not forget his promise
to return to his chosen disciples, and for some fifty
years he visited them in his spiritual body, and con-

tinued his instruction in the secret teaching. This in-
ner instruction constituted the basis of the Christian

Mysteries. During this time the disciples lived to-
gether in a retired spot on the outskirts of Judea, at-
tracting small attention because of the many similar
communities. During its embryonic stage the new re-
ligion was hidden in the womb of communities, similar
to that of the Therapeutes. It was some years before
it emerged and began its general propaganda, and it
was only when the disciples were fully prepared that

they went forth to preach.
After Jesus' death he completed his human evolution

.and became a Perfect Master. The Christ then sur-
rendered to Jesus the care of the Christian Church,
and He became the Hierophant in the Christian Mys-
teries. He was the inspiration that kept alive the
Gnosis in the Church until the mass of ignorant self-
ishness became too great for its continuance. But he
has sought thoroughout the centuries, and is seeking
to-day, for those who have eyes to see and ears to
hear Wisdom. (For full exposition see "Esoteric
Christianity," Besant, Ch. IV.)
This is the occult teaching, which is fully corrobor-

ated by the doctrine of the early Gnostics. They held
that those whom Christ originally instructed in the
higher doctrines, brought about his condemnation for

blasphemy by the Orthodox Jewish authorities, be-
cause they considered that his too open teaching was a
divulgence of the Mysteries. They also held, as can
be seen by consulting the Pistis Sophia, written by
Valentinus, that after Jesus' death he continued his
instruction of the disciples. For eleven years he
taught them so far as "the regions of the first statues
The Christian Mysteries 77
only and up to the regions of the first mystery, the

mystery within the veil." Notwithstanding, there
were omissions of many points which as yet they
were unable to comprehend, the instruction was so
wonderful that they thought that all had been revealed,
the gnosis of all gnoses. In the twelfth year, having
received the robe of glory, he says to his disciples
"Lo, I have put on My vesture, and all power hath
been given Me by the First Mystery. Yet a little while
and I will tell you the mystery of the pleroma and the
pleroma of the pleroma; I will conceal nothing from
you from this hour, but in perfectness will I perfect
you in the whole pleroma, and all perfection, and every
mystery which things, indeed, are the perfection, of all
;
perfections, the pleroma of all pleroma, and the gno-

sis of all gnoses, which are in My vesture. I will tell
you all mysteries from the exterior of the exteriors, to

the interior of the interiors." This the Master did
and instructed them in the Mystery of the First Mys-
tery and the Mystery of the Ineffable. Then follows
instruction on the nature of the preaching by the dis-
ciples when the Master has entered the Light,

and the
condition upon which the Mysteries shall be given to
others. He then teaches them regarding the postmor-
tem state of the sinner, the righteous uninitiated, and
the righteous initiated, etc. This secret teaching con-
stituted the Mysteries of Jesus.
The public and private teaching of Jesus naturally

resulted in two traditions. The mystic tradition repre-
sents the inner teaching, and the Ebionite represents
the public teaching. It was against the
original fol-
lowers of the public tradition that Paul contended in
his efforts to universalize Christianity. The Petro-
Pauline controversy was a struggle between the exter-

nal and mystic sides of the new movement. The
Ebionites undoubtedly preserved the original and true
and nature of Jesus, for
tradition regarding the birth
they held that Jesus was a. man born as other men,

the natural son of Joseph and Mary. That the tradi-
tion of the Ebionites or Nazaraens differed widely
from the historicized dogmas of later times, may be
seen, even to-day, from the Codex Nasarseus of the
Mandaites, the descendants of the Nazaraeans who
dwell in the marshes of Southern Babylonia. We must
not confuse the early form of Ebionitism with the
later forms which were of a Gnostic nature the outer
communities being finally influenced by the inner Jew-
ish tradition.
Paul himself was a mystic, in touch with the inner

communities, and he saw that Christianity was de-
signed to be the religion of the new race about to be
born. It is evident that Paul was not acquainted
with the later accounts of the canonical Gospels, for he
does not teach the historical Jesua but the Mystic
Christ. The canonical accounts were probably compiled
in the last quarter of the first
century or in the first
part of the second, that is, they reached their present
form at that time. The

synoptics were based upon
a sketch of an ideal life, written by one of the Apos-
tles of the inner communities, and intended for gen-
eral circulation.Round this nucleus, later compilers,
bishops of the outer churches, wove much other mat-
ter which was selected from a mass of legend and tra-
dition. Orthodoxy or General Christianity traces its
origin to these documents.
We are now ready to examine the teachings of

The Christian Mysteries _o
Jesus and the Apostles, and see if we can find any

trace or reference to an inner occult
teaching. Upon
reading an account of Jesus' teaching we find him
constantly making use of certain terms which are
usually employed to designate an inner circle of In-
itiation.
In the fourth chapter of Mark is recorded the

par-
able of the sower, given
by Jesus to the multitude, at
the conclusion of which he said, "He that hath ears
to hear let him hear." "And when he was
alone," the
writer says, "they that were about him with the twelve
asked of him the parable," and He said unto them,
"Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the
kingdom of God but unto them that are without, all
;
these things are done in parables." (Mark, IV., 9,

10, n). Alittle later in the same chapter we are
told, "With many such parables spake He the word

unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a
parable spake he not unto them, and when they were
alone he expounded all things to his disciples." (Ibid,
33, 34.) The writer records the intellectual inter-
pretation of the parable of the sower given by Jesus
to his disciples.These things have a three-fold mean-
ing a surface, an intellectual interpretation, and a
mystical or spiritual meaning, which was never writ-
ten but was committed orally by the teacher to his
pledged disciple. Origen says Scripture has a
all
body, the common a soul, a figurative

historical sense ;
meaning to be intellectually discerned; and a spirit,

an inner occult sense, known only to the spiritually
minded. It was this inner occult teaching that Jesus
gave to those "inhouse when they were
the
alone," to those who were privileged to "know
the mysteries of the kingdom of God."
The Kingdom of Heaven or Kingdom of God re-
fers to the Mystery-Institution or to the spiritual state
which, the discipline and knowledge or Gnosis re-

vealed in the Mysteries, enabled one to attain. In
the Pistis Sophia Jesus is said to have brought the
"Keys of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Light,"
meaning that the perfect Initiate had attained the
Kingdom, the high spiritual state, even while on
earth. In the "Book of the Great Logos," another
early Gnostic treatise, we are told that those who
have received the Greater Mysteries, the Mysteries
of the Light Treasure, "have already inherited the
Kingdom of God while still on earth they have ;
their share in the Light Treasure and are immortal

Gods."
Wesee by this the real meaning of Jesus' saying,
"Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither
cast ye your pearls before swine/' (Matt. VII., 6.)
"Dogs" like "the vulgar" and "the profane" was a

term applied by those within a certain circle, to all
who were on the outside. This was the sense in
which Jesus used the terms; for those not initiated
into the mysteries of the knowledge could not
understand the inner teaching; and to give it to
them would be like casting pearls before swine.
Again the names "Kingdom," the "Kingdom of

God" or the "Kingdom of Heaven," the "Strait Gate"
the "Narrow Way," the "Saved," are all technical
terms connected with Initiation and the Mysteries.
This is evident from the passages in which these terms
occur. The question was asked Jesus, "Are there
few that be saved?" and he replied, "Strive to enter
in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter and shall not be able."

in, (Luke XIII,
23, 24.) Again, he said, "Enter ye in at the strait
gate for wide is the gate,
:
and broad is the way, that
leadeth to destruction, and many there be which
go
in thereat: because strait is the
gate, and narrow is
the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it." (Matt., VII, 13, 14.)
The application of this passage to the future world

is without foundation. To suppose that many will
earnestly seek to enter heaven but will be unable to

gain admission is both unreasonable and
unscriptural.
When the Seer of the Apocalypse describes the heaven-
world he does not behold merely a few, but a "great
multitude which no man could number." (Rev.
VIL, 9.)
The "Strait Gate" here is not the gateway of

heaven, but the gateway of Initiation. Few, indeed,
have succeeded in entering this "Strait Gate," al-
though many have sought its portals. There are
some, even to-day, who can bear witness to this state-
ment, some who for years have striven but have not
yet reached the goal. The "Saved," the true Initiates,
those who have attained the "Kingdom," or spiritual
Nirvana, have always been few. Some three thousand
years earlier, Krishna said, "Among thousands of
men, scarce one striveth for perfection; of the suc-
cessful strivers scarce one knoweth me in essence."
The great multitude have always followed the broad
way which leadeth time and again to destruction only ;
the few have sought the narrower and steeper road of

Initiation that leadeth direct unto life.
The student of the worlds' Scriptures is familiar

g2 Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry
with the symbol of the "Narrow Way." It is the
old narrow way so often referred to, the "Path diffi-
cult to tread as the edge of a razor." Jesus does not

use the symbol in any new sense. It is the old
'"'Strait Gate" and "Narrow Way" of Initiation. This
was symbolized in the Ancient Mysteries by the nar-
row stone orifice which separated each of the seven
caverns from its successor, and through which the can-
didate had to pass in going from one chamber to the
next. The King's Chamber in the great Pyramid was
entered through such a gate. Regarding this Mr. Stans-
land Wake says, "The so-called King's Chamber. . . .
was probably the place to which the Initiate was ad-

mitted after he had gone through the narrow upward
passage, and the grand gallery with its lowly termina-
tion which gradually prepared him for the final stage
of the Sacred Mysteries." (Origin and Significance
of the Great Pyramids," p. 93.) This passage sym-
bolized the "Narrow" or "Strait Gate" which "leadeth
unto life" the new which Jesus
spiritual rebirth to
referred. It was a symbol, the meaning of which was
well understood by every Initiate. The Mason will
recall a similar symbol in the gateway through which
he passed in the Royal Arch Degree.

It is of interest to note, in this connection, the in-
cident of the young man who came to Jesus and ad-
dressing him said, "Good Master, what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal Life?" He wished
to secure a permanent abode in that world where they
die no more, in other words, he was seeking liberation
frofn the necessity of repeated births and deaths. Re-
member, the Jews believed that all imperfect souls
returned to earth life. In reply Jesus gave the usual
exoteric answer, the commandments." But when

"Keep
the young man had kept all these from his youth
said he
up, Jesus said to him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go

and sell that thou hath and give to the poor and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and
follow me." (Matt. XIX., 21.)
To be "Perfect" is to attain a certain stage of In-

itiation.Jesus here uses a technical term, the mean-
ing of which was well known at that tirrre. The Es-
senes used the term to denote a certain class in their
communites. They had three divisons the Neo-
phytes, the Brethren and the Perfect. If thou wilt
be "Perfect," a member of the Kingdom, you must
comply with the conditions poverty and obedience.
Such has always been a condition for Initiation. When
the young man heard the necessity of this he went
away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. Jesus
then turned to his disciples and moralized upon the dif-
ficulties that stand in the way of a rich man entering
upon the higher stages of human evolution, saying,
"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of

God. (Ibid 24.) To apply this to the future state is ab-
surd. Does anyone really believe that no rich man can
enter heaven ?There seems to be no great haste in get-
ting rid of riches on account of the text. But when we
understand that the "Kingdom of Heaven" means the
"Brotherhood of the Initiated," we see at once that
the statement is literally true. One cannot gain that

knowledge of God which is eternal life, the condition
of the "Perfect," while engrossed with the cares of
of these
great wealth. It is only when one is stripped
cares and anxieties, incident upon the possession of
great riches and vast interests in the material world,

that he can pass the narrow gateway of the world of
the spirit.Poverty, obedience, and chastity were the
vows taken by the candidate for Initiation in all ages,
and Jesus simply repeats the universal teaching.
Another indication of Jesus' knowledge of the tech-

nical terms of Initiationis in the words spoken to Nic-
odemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man

be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God."
(John HI, 3.) This birth or baptism is spoken of as
of water and of the spirit, the first baptism is the first
Initiation, when the candidate is welcomed as a "little
child." There was a later Initiation, the baptism of

the Initiate, in his manhood, called; the baptism of the
Holy Ghost and fire. (Matt. Ill, n.)
In the Codex Nasaraeus of the Mandaites there is
a beautiful story of this mystic baptism. Jesus conies

to Johannah to be baptized seeking Initiation into the
the mystic school of Johannah. But Johannah recog-
nizes him as the Master by whose power he had been
teaching and initiating for forty and two years. Jo-
hannah gives the lower Initiation of external baptism
to Jesus, and receives in turn the true spiritual bap-
tism from the Master himself, when "He gave him
the grip of the Rushta, and laid his hand upon him in
Jordan and He made him lay off his garment of flesh
;
and blood and He clothed him in a raiment of glory."

;
The phrases "little ones," "little child" and "children."

were used in the mystic circles of the time to denote
one just Initiated. Johannah says, "Come in peace,

Little One Now, I go with thee, Little One,
that we may enter the stream. Come, come, Little
. . .
One of three years and one day, youngest among his

brethren but oldest with his Father, who is so small
yet his sayings are so exalted." In the Essene and
Therapeute communities senority was reckoned not
by age, but by the years the brother had been a mem-
ber of the Order. The "Second Birth" is also a well
recognized and universal term for Initiation. This
will be clearly seen when we consider more definitely
the question of Initiation in a succeeding lecture.
On the night preceding his death, Jesus said to his
Apostles, "I have yet many things to say unto you,

but ye cannot bear them now." (John XVI, 12.) Some
of these things were undoubtedly said by Jesus after
his resurrection, during the period when he remained
with his disciples, "Speaking to them of the things per-
taining to the Kingdom of God." Of course, none of
these things pertaining, as they did, to the "Kingdom of
God" the Mysteries are publicly recorded; but one
cannot doubt that they were treasured and handed
down orally as a precious heritage. There is a tradi-
tion in the early church that this instruction continued,
not only forty days, but for many years.
We will now turn to St. Paul. We shall find the
writings of this Apostle to the Gentiles permeated with

references to occult teachings and the Mysteries; his
use of the technical terms connected with Initiation
to prove, to any unprejudiced mind, the
is sufficient
existence of the inner teaching of the Church in its

primitive state.
Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul refers

In the first to
the degree of "Perfection" and to the teaching that
belongs to that degree; he says, "We speak wisdom

among them that are perfect. We speak the wis-

. .
dom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom

which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
which none of the princes of this world knew. . .
But God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit : for

the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. Which things also we speak, not in the
. .
words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the

Holy Ghost teacheth." (/ Cor. n, 6, 7, 10, 13.)
"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto

spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in
Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat ;
for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet

now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal .... Asa wise
master-builder, I have laid the foundation." (/ Cor.
III., i, 2, 3, 10.)
"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of

Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." (I Cor.
IV, i.)
it not evident from these

Is passages that the Apos-
tle possessed an inner wisdom that the Christians at
Corinth were not yet able to receive ? Remember that
these words were addressed to those who were in full
membership of the Church. They had all that the
modern church gives to its members, but there was a
hidden wisdom which they could not yet bear. This
wisdom was only given in the Mysteries where wis-
dom was spoken among the "Perfect." The recurring
technical terms in these passages should evidence their
connection with the world-wide Mysteries The "Per- :
fect," the "Wisdom," the "Hidden Wisdom," the "Wis-

dom of God in a Mystery," the "wise Master-builder,"
"Stewards of the Mysteries of God" Paul constantly

uses these technical terms which belong to the mystic
tradition. The communities which he addressed must
have been familiar with his nomenclature, for he does
not speak; of these things as new, but as well known
to those to whom he writes.
In the Epistle to the Ephesians Paul refers to the

Mysteries, saying that by "revelation he made known
unto me the mystery," "my knowledge in the mystery
of Christ" that all men might see the "fellowship of
the mystery." (Eph. Ill, 3, 4, 9.)
In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul declares that

he had been made a minister to fulfill the word of
God, "Even the mystery which hath been hid from
ages and from generations, but now is made manifest
to his saints : To whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles ; which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory." (Col. I, 26-27.) This Christ within is indeed

a mystery the life of the Initiate, which, when
it is
fully developed, will present the man "perfect in Jesus

Christ."
In the Epistle to the Philippians Paul says, "I count

all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus. That I may know him, and the
. .
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death : If
by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of

the dead. Not
as though I had already attained, either
were already perfect. Let us therefore, as many
. .
as be perfect, be thus minded." (Phil. Ill, 8-15.)

The resurrection which the Apostle was striving to

attain was not the ordinary resurrection of Christian
belief, for this requires no effort. But there is a "re-
surrection" which not easily attained. Jesus refers
is
to this in his reply to the Sadducees, "But they which

shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the
resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are
given in marriage neither can they die any more for
: :
they are equal unto the angels; and are children of

God, being the children of the resurrection." (Luke
XX, 35, 36.)
Jesus here connects the resurrection with liberation

from death those attaining the resurrection "do not
die any more." The perfected Initiate was liberated
from the "circle of generations" of birth and death,
he was worthy to obtain that world of permanent
abode. The real man is sexless and those who are
able to abandon their animal nature, return to the eter-
nal essence above, where there is neither male nor fe-
male, but a new creature this is the true resurrection.
When the neophyte reached a certain stage of interior
development or enlightment he was said to "rise from
the dead." The phrase "resurrection from the dead"
is a mystical phrase denoting the new birth or Gno-
stic Illumination. The Apostle was striving to attain
that resurrection, and he urges "as many as are per-
fect" to strive also. He does not urge the ordinary
believer; for only those who had attained to the de-
gree of the "Perfect" could hope for immediate de-
liverance. He was already of the "Perfect" and he
says to his fellow Initiates, "I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded." The Initiate was to become the Risen Christ.

"The ordinary believer had put on Christ They
were babes in Christ Christ was the Savior to
whom they looked for help, knowing Him after the
flesh. But when they had conquered the lower nature
and were no longer 'carnal,' then they were to enter on
a higher path, and were themselves to become Christ."
(Esoteric Christianity, Besant, p. 63.)
Paul had struggled to attain this ideal and had at

last succeeded. He says, "I am now ready to be of-
fered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I
have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for
me a crown of righteousness." (// Timothy, IV, 6-8..
"This was the crown given 'to him that overcometh,'
of whom it is said .by the ascended Christ: 'I will
make him a pillar in the temple of my God; and he

shall go no more out." (Rev. Ill, 12.) For after the
Resurrection the Initiate has become the Perfect Man,
the Master, and He goes out no more from the Tem-
ple." (Esoteric Christianity, p. 65.)
In the First Epistle to Timothy, Paul exhorts his

son in the faith to see that nothing is done contrary to
sound doctrine. Paul declares that the glorious gospel

of the blessed God has been committed to his trust,
and he commits to Timothy an important charge in
this connection. "This charge I commit unto thee,
son Timothy." (/ Timothy, L, 18.) And again he says,
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy
trust." (Ibid VI., 20.) "Hold fast the form of sound
words which thou hast heard of me that good thing
which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy
Ghost which dwelleth in us." (// Timothy I., 13, 14.)

"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given
thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of
the Presbytery" of the Initiates. (/ Timothy IV., 14.)
This knowledge which had been committed to Timothy
and which he was to guard so completely, was not the
common knowledge possessed by Christians in general,
there was no special obligations laidupon him regard-
ing that, but it was the doctrine committed to his
trust as an Initiate.
Paul instructs him to select deacons from among

those who had a knowledge of the "mystery of the
Faith," and the "mystery of godliness." He was fur-
ther to provide for the transmission of this sacred
teaching, "the things that thou hast heard of me
among many witnesses [in the assembly of Initiates],
the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be
able to teach others also." (//. Timothy, II, 2.) This,
of course, refers to the sacred oral teachings given
only to Initiates. If the ordinary doctrines of the
church were meant, Timothy would have been in-
structed to write it down for transmission, or rather

Paul would have written it out himself. But the
secret teaching could not be written; they were not
the things read by Timothy, they were Paul's private
instructions, given within the sacred precincts; they
were to be transmitted to others by word of mouth.
Paul Timothy into the Mysteries of the
initiates
Church, and exhorts him to "keep that which is com-

mitted to his trust," and to provide for the due trans-
mission of this knowledge to other teachers. We thus
have provision made for the transmission of the oc-
cult wisdom for three generations Timothy repre-
sents the generation of Christian teachers immedi-

ately following the Apostles, and he is instructed to
commit the hidden treasure to faithful men who shall
teach others in turn.
We now refer to the writings of the Apostolic

Fathers, and we shall not be surprised to find that
they possessed an esoteric teaching, for the provision

made by Paul overlaps the early part of this period.
In our next lecture we will consider the testimony of
the early Church.
LECTURE V.
THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERIES.

(Concluded.)
TESTIMONY OF THE EARLY CHURCH.
In the last lecture we examined the testimonies of

Christ and His Apostles, and found that they had an
inner teaching, a deep spiritual knowledge, which was
not imparted to the masses.
We shall now proceed to the history of the early

church in which we find that the Mysteries, as es-
tablished by Christ, constituted a definite institution
in the early Christian centuries.
There were two traditions of the Christian Gnosis

the Gnostic, which recognized the Christian Gnosis
as only a part of the General Gnosis, and the ortho-
dox, which held to the exclusive character of the
Christian Gnosis.
Let us first consider the Gnostics. The very mean-

ing of the word Gnostic is to know. The Gnostics
were the first philosophers and theologians of the
Christian Church; they had an inner esoteric teach-
ing which they claimed came direct from Jesus and
the Apostles. These philosophers were not only the
most cultured in the Christian ranks, but were zeal-
ous workers in their faith; they endeavored to for-
mulate Christianity as a universal philosophy. They
lived strictly and followed the path of righteousness,
93
striving by every means to purify themselves and to

realizeby daily practice the teachings of the Master,
seeking always the science of realities the knowl-
edge of God, hence wisdom was their goal and spir-
itual things their
study. They looked at the problem
of cosmogony and
anthropogeny from above, and in
this they may have been as reasonable in their
proper
domain as the modern scientist who looks at the prob-
lem from below. Until the middle of the second cen-
tury, at least, they continued a part of the General
Christian body, but at last the narrowness and bigotry
of those who followed the outer tradition succeeded
in having them denounced as heretics ; and this chiefly
for contending that the teachings of Christ contained
a wisdom that transcended the comprehension of the
multitude.
The Gnostics had their Mysteries and Initiations.

Even in the recently discovered "Acts of John" we
have a fragment of the early Gnostic ritual of the
Mysteries there
;
ismention of some of the de-
also
grees such as the "Initiation of the Cross," and in

the "Pistis Sophia," the "Books of the Savior," and
the "Book of the Great Logos," there is constant
mention of the Mysteries. The Christian Mysteries,
like the Eleusinian, were divided into two parts, the
Lesser and the Greater.
Beside the Greek original Gnostic works above
mentioned, we have some Gnostic fragments recov-
ered from the polemical writings of the Church
Fathers, but as these writers were the most bitter op-
ponents of the Gnostics they are not a very accurate
source of information. Iraeneus is our chief inform-
ant, but he has been shown to be entirely unreliable.
I am convinced that the Gnostics came the nearest

to preserving the Gnosis of the Master, but even with
them, after a time, the great spiritual truths became
intermixed with many fantastic ideas.
I regret that space does not

permit an extended ex-
amination of this much neglected field of original
Christian mysticism, but as all admit the existence of
a Gnostic Gnosis, it will not be necessary to
go into
further details.
Let us now look at the Orthodox Gnosis. This rep-

resents the narrower stream, if not in volume at least
in exclusiveness,and though the later Church fath-

ers condemned the followers of this tradition equally
with the Gnostics, for some centuries it had a wide
following among the more intelligent of the early
church.
We more fully: Polycarp,

will trace this tradition
a fellow disciple with Ignatius and St. John, in his
Epistle to the Church at Philippi, writes, "I trust that
ye are well versed in the Sacred Scriptures, and that

nothing is hid from you, but to me this privilege is
not yet granted." (Anti Nicene Fathers, Am. Ed.
Vol. i, p. 35.) It is evident from this that there was
a hidden teaching in which Polycarp was not yet in-
structed, for he trusts that those to whom he writes
are farther advanced, that there is nothing hid from
them, so Polycarp evidently was not yet a full In-
itiate.
In the Epistle to Barnabas its writer says, "If I

should take the trouble to communicate to you some
portion of what I have myself received, it would
prove to me a sufficient reward that I minister to
such spirits." (Epistle to Barnabas, Ch. i.) It is

clear from this that Barnabas had received instruc-
tion in addition to that possessed by those to whom
he wrote.
Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Ephesians, writes, "I

know both who I am and to whom I write. Ye . .
are initiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with

Paul, the holy, the martyred, inasmuch as he was a
'chosen vessel."' (Ch. XII.) In the Epistle of Ig-
natius to the Trallians, he says, "For might not I
write to you things more full of mystery? But I
fear to do so, lest I should inflict injury on you who
are but babes. Pardon me in this respect, lest, as not
being able to receive their weighty import, ye should

be strangled by them. For even I, though I am
bound (for Christ) and am able to understand heav-
enly things, the angelic orders, and the different sorts
of Angels and hosts, the distinctions between powers
and dominions, and the diversities between thrones and
authorities, the mightiness of the Aeons, and the pre-
eminence of the cherubim and seraphim, the sublimity
of the spirit, the Kingdom of the Lord, and, above all,
the incomparable majesty of Almighty God though
I am acquainted with these things, yet I am not there-
fore by any means perfect; nor am I such a disciple
as Paul or Peter." (Ch. V.)
This passage is important as showing that the Mys-

teries dealt with "heavenly things," the "angelic or-
ders," etc.
In his "Epistle to the Philadelphians" he says, "The

priests indeed are good, but the High
Priest [Hiero-
phant] is better; to whom the holy of holies has been

committed, and who alone has been trusted with the

secrets of God." (Ch. IX.)
In the "Constitutions of the Holy Apostles," as-
cribed to Qement, Bishop of Rome, the author in
speaking of the instruction of catechumens and their
"Now, after what manner those ought
initiation says,
to live that are initiated into Christ. . . has been
said in the foregoing directions. But it is reasonable
not to leave even those who are not yet initiated with-
out assistance. . . And when it remains that the
catechumen to be baptized, let him learn what con-
is
cerns the renunciation of the devil, and the joining of

himself with Christ; for it is fit that he should first
abstain from things contrary, and then be admitted to
the Mysteries. He must beforehand purify his heart
from wickedness of disposition, from all spot and
all
wrinkle, and then partake of the holy things. . . .
that so the candidate for baptism, when he is anointed,

may be free from all ungodliness, and may become
worthy of initiation." (Book VII, Sec. in.)
We now come Clement of Alexandria. He was
to
a disciple of Pantaenus, master of the Cathechetical
School in Alexandria and afterward succeeded him
as the head of the school in 189 A. D. Clement
speaks of Pantaenus and two others, probably Tatian
and Theodotus, as "preserving the tradition of the
blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apos-
tles, John and Paul, the sons receiving
Peter, James,
it from the came by God's will to us also to
father,
deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds. the . .
Lord. .allowed us to communicate of those di-

.
vine Mysteries, and of that holy light, to those who

are able to receive them. He did not certainly dis-
close to the many what did not belong to the many;

but to the few to whom he knew that they belonged
who were capable of receiving and being moulded ac-
cording to them. But secret things are entrusted to
speech, not to writing, as in the case with God. And
if one say that it is written, 'there is nothing secret
which shall not be revealed, nor hidden which shall
not be disclosed,' let him also hear from us, that to him
who hears secretly, even what is secret shall be mani-
fested. This is what was predicted by this oracle. And
to him who able secretly to observe what is delivered
is
to him, that which is veiled shall be disclosed as truth ;

and what is hidden to the many, shall appear manifest
to the few. For why do not all know the truth? Why
is not righteousness loved, if righteousness belongs to
all? But the Mysteries are delivered mystically, that
what is spoken may be in the mouth of the speaker;
rather not in his voice, but in his understanding. . . .
The writing of this memoranda of mine, know, I well

isweak when compared with that spirit, full of grace,
which I was privileged to hear. But it will be an
image to recall the archetype to him who was struck
with the thyrsus [a wand borne by Initiates with
which candidates were touched during the ceremony
of Initiation]. . . We profess not to 'explain se-
cret things sufficiently far from it but only to re-
call them to memory, whether we have forgor aught,
or whether for the purpose of not forgetting.
Some things I purposely omit, in the exercise of a
wise selection, afraid to write what I guarded against
speaking; not grudging for that were wrong but

fearing for my readers, lest they should stumble by
taking them in a wrong sense; and, as the proverb
says, we should be found 'reaching a sword to a child.'

. . . some things my treatise will hint on some it ;
will linger ;
some it will merely mention. It will try to
speak imperceptibly, to exhibit secretly, and to demon-

strate silently." (The Stromata, Book I, Ch. I.)
Again in speaking of "The Mysteries of the faith

not to be divulged to all," he says, "But since this
tradition is not published alone for him who per-
ceives the magnificence of the word; it is requisite,
therefore, to hide in a mystery the wisdom spoken,
which the Son of God taught. Now, therefore, Isaiah
the prophet has his tongue purified by fire, so that he
may be able to tell the vision. And we must purify

not the tongue alone, but also the ears, if we attempt
to be partakers of the truth. Such were the impedi-
ments in the way of my writing. And even now I
fear, as it is said, 'to cast the pearls

before swine, lest
they tread them under foot, and turn and rend us.'
For it is difficult to exhibit the really pure and trans-
parent words respecting the true light, to swinish and
untrained hearers, for scarcely would anything which
they could hear be more ludicrous than these to the
multitude; nor any subjects, on the other hand, more
admirable or more inspiring to those of noble nature.
'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him.' But

the wise do not utter with their mouth what they rea-
son in council. 'But what ye hear in the car,' says
the Lord, 'proclaim upon the houses' [in the assembly
of the Initiates, not to the men in the street] bid- ;
ding them receive the secret traditions of the true
knowledge, and expound them aloft and conspicu-

so to de-
ously; and as we have heard in the ear,
liver them to whom it is requisite; but not en-

joining us to communicate to all without distinction,
what is said to them in parables." (The Stromata,
Book I, Ch. 12.)
Again, he says, "He who is still blind and dumb,

not having understanding, or the undazzled and keen
vision of the contemplative soul, which the Savior con-
fers, like the uninitiated at the mysteries, or the un-

musical at dances, not being yet pure and worthy of
the pure truth but still discordant and disordered and
material, must stand outside of the divine choir.
'For we compare spiritual things with spiritual.'
Wherefore, in accordance with the method of con-
cealment, the truly sacred Word, truly divine and
most necessary for us, deposited in the shrine of truth,
was by the Egyptians indicated by what were called
among them Adyta, and by the Hebrews by the Veil.
Only the consecrated were allowed access to
. . .
them. For Plato also thought it not lawful for the im-
pure to touch the pure.' Thence the prophecies and
oracles are spoken in enigmas, and the mysteries are
not exhibited incontinently to all and sundry, but only
after certain purifications and previous instructions."
(The Stromata, Book V, Ch. IV.)
Clement then takes up the symbolic and allegorical

method of writing employed by the philosophers, and
quotes many passages from the Scriptures to show
that Jesus and the Apostles employed the same meth-
od. "The apostle in contradistinction to gnostic per-
fection," he says, "calls the common faith the founda-
tion and sometimes milk." He speaks of the build-
ing as the "gnostic superstructure" or "gnostic edi-
fice" and says, "it was impossible that gifts of this sort
could be written without disguise." "But," he con-
tinues, "the Gnostic apprehends. Now, then, it is
not wished that all things should be exposed indis-
criminately to all and sundry, or the benefits of wis-
dom communicated to those who have not even in a
dream been purified in soul (for it is not allowed to
hand to every chance tromer what has been procured
with such laborious efforts) ; nor are the mysteries of
the word to be expounded to the profane." (Stro-
mata, Booh V, Ch. IX.)
In the next chapter he says distinctly that "there is
an instruction of the perfect. to whom God . .
wished to make known what is the riches of the glory

of this mystery among the nations. So that on the
one hand, then, are the mysteries which were hid till
the time of the apostles, and were delivered by them
as they received from the Lord and concealed in the
Old Testament, were manifested to the saints. And,
on the other hand, there is 'the riches of the glory of
the mystery in the Gentiles,' which is faith and hope
in Christ; which in another place he has called
"
the 'foundation.' He says that the "knowledge does
not appertain to all" and quotes Paul to this effect (Col.
11, 2, 3). "Blessed be our Lord, Brethren," he says,
"who has put into our hearts wisdom and the under-
standing of His secrets. It is but for few to
. . .
comprehend these things. . . Instruction, which

reveals hidden things, is called illumination, as it is
the teacher only who uncovers the lid of the ark.

. . 'For I know,' says the Apostle, 'that when I
come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the bless-

"
ing of Christ.' He then quotes Paul concerning the
fullness of the blessing of Christ "designating the

spiritual gift, and the gnostic communication, which
being present he desires to impart to them present as
'the fullness of Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery sealed in the ages of eternity, but now
manifested by the prophetic Scriptures, according to
the command of the eternal God.' . . But only to
a few of them is shown what those things are which
are contained in the mystery. Rightly, then, Plato,
in the epistles, treating of God, says, 'We must speak
in enigmas; that should the tablet come, by any mis-
chance on its leaves, either by sea or land, he who
reads may remain ignorant.' . . Akin to this is
what the holy apostle Paul says, preserving the pro-

phetic and truly ancient secret from which the teach-
ings that were good were derived by the Greeks,
'Howbeit we speak wisdom among them who are per-
"
fect.' (Stromata, Book V, Ch. X.)
"Wisdom," he declares, "to be certain knowledge,
being a sure and irrefragable apprehension of things

divine and human, comprehending the present, past,
and future. . . and it is irrefragable by reason,
inasmuch as it has been communicated. . . And
the gnosis itself is that which has descended by trans-
mission to a few, having been imparted unwritten by
the apostles." (Stromata, Book VI, Ch. VII.)
These quotations might a

easily be extended, but
sufficient show that Clement
number has been given to
knew of a secret teaching and was writing for the
benefit of those who, like himself, were Initiates in
the Christian Mysteries. Clement quotes continually
from the Scriptures to illustrate the mystic teaching,
thus showing that he recognized the passages to which

we referred earlier as evidencing the existence of a
hidden, esoteric, teaching. The Gnostic 'was one who
knew, an Initiate of the Mysteries.
Let us now turn to Origen, the noted pupil of Cle-
ment, and beyond doubt the greatest scholar in the
early church. In his famous controversy with Celsus
many references were made to the secret teachings of
the church. Celsus charges Christianity with being a
secret system. Origen replying, that while certain
things were secret, others were public, says, "But that
there should be certain doctrines, not made known to
the multitude, which are (revealed) after the exoteric
ones have been taught, is not a peculiarity ot Chris-
tianity alone, but also of philosophic systems, in
which certain truths are exoteric and others esoteric.
Some of the hearers of Pythagoras were content with
his ipse dixit; while others were taught in secret
those doctrines which were not deemed fit to be com-
municated to profane and insufficiently prepared ears.
Moreover, all the Mysteries that are celebrated every-
where throughout Greece and barbarous countries, al-
though held in secret, have no discredit thrown upon
them, so that it is in vain that he endeavors to calum-
niate the secret doctrine of Christianity, seeing he does
not correctly understand its nature." (Origen Against
Celsus, Book I, Ch. VII.}
Again Origen says, "I have not yet spoken of the

observance of thatallwritten in the Gospels, each
is
one of which contains much doctrine difficult to be

understood, not merely by the multitude, but even by
certain of the more intelligent, including a very pro-
found explanation of the parables which Jesus deliv-
ered to 'those without,' while reserving the exhibition

of their full meaning for those who had passed be-
yond the stage of exoteric teaching, and who came to
Him privately in the house. what we have said
. .
is sufficient by way of answer to the

unphilosophic
sneers of Celsus, in comparing the inner mysteries of
the church of God to the cats and apes, and croco-
diles, and goats, and dogs of Egypt." (Origen Against
Celsus, Book III, Ch. XXL}
A little further on in the same Book he again says,
"And if you come to the books written after the time
of Jesus, you will find that those multitudes of be-
lievers who hear the parables are, as it were, 'without'
and worthy only of exoteric doctrines, while the dis-
ciples learn in private the explanation of the parables."

(Origen Against Celsus, Book III, Ch. LVI.)
Celsus criticised the Christians for inviting sinners
into the Church. He says that in other Mysteries
he only is invited who has "clean hands and a pru-
dent tongue; he only who is pure from all pollution
and whose soul is conscious of no evil and who has
lived well and justly." Origen replies that, "It is not
the same to invite those who are sick in soul .to be
cured, and those who are in health to the knowledge
and study of divine things. We, however, keeping
both these things in view, at first invite all men to be
healed, and exhort those who are sinners to come
to
the consideration of the doctrines which teach men

not to sin, and those who are devoid of understanding
to thosewhich beget wisdom, and those who are chil-
dren to rise in their thoughts to manhood, and those
who are simply unfortunate to good fortune, or
which is the more appropriate term to use to blessed-
ness. And when those who have been turned toward

virtue have madeprogress, and have shown that they
have been purified by the word, and have led as far
life, then and not before do we
as they can a better
them to participation in our mysteries. 'For
invite
we speak wisdom among them that are perfect.' "
(Origen Against Celsus, Book III, Ch. LIX.)
Origen then explains that in the Christian Mys-

teries as in all others those are received who have
"clean hands," who are "athletes in piety and every
virtue." "Whoever ispure not only from all defile-
ment," he says, "but from what are regarded as lesser
transgressions, let him be boldly initiated in the mys-
teries of Jesus, which properly are made known only
to the holy and the pure. . . He who acts as an
initiator, according to the precepts of Jesus, will say
to those who have been purified in heart, 'He whose
soul has, for a long time, been conscious of no evil,
and especially since he yielded himself to the healing
of the word, let such a one hear the. doctrines which
were spoken in private by Jesus to His genuine dis-
ciples.' Therefore in the comparison which he insti-
tutes between the procedure of the initiators into the
Grecian mysteries, and the teachers of the doctrine
of Jesus, he does not know the difference between in-
viting the wicked to be healed, and initiating those al-
ready purified into the sacred mysteries ! Not to par-
ticipation in mysteries, then, and to fellowship in the

wisdom hidden mystery, which God ordained before
in a
the world to the glory of His saints, do we invite the
wicked man, and the thief. . . but such as these we in-
vite to be healed. Others, again, which to the

. .
pure in soul and body exhibit 'the revelation of the

mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

but now is made manifest by the Scriptures of the
prophets,' and 'by the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ/ which 'appearing' is manifested to each one
of those who are perfect, and which enlightens the
reason in the true knowledge of things. . . God
the Word was sent, indeed, as a physician to sinners,
and also as a teacher of divine mysteries to those who
are already pure and who sin no more." (Origen
Against Celsus, Book III, Ch. LX, LXI, LXII.)
Archilaus, Bishop of Cesarea in Mesopotamia, says,
"The Lord spake in parables to those who were in-
capable of hearing, but to His disciples He explained

these parables in private. For the illumination of the
glory is for those who have been enlightened, while
the blinding is for them who believe not. These mys-
teries, which the church now declares to you who are
transferred from the lists of the catechumens, it is not
her custom' to declare to the Gentiles. For we do not
declare the mysteries touching the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit to a Gentile ; neither do we
speak of the mysteries plainly in presence of the cate-
chumens but many a time we express ourselves
;
in an
occult manner, so that the faithful who have intelli-
gence may apprehend the truths referred to, while

those who have not that intelligence may receive no
hurt." (Anti Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI, p. 235.)
Quotations of this import could be extended, if
necessary, but it is now beyond

question that there
existed in the early church a definite institution called
the "Sacred Mysteries" or the "Mysteries of Jesus,"

wherein was taught a higher wisdom. The church
mission by pro-
to-day thinks it has accomplished its
ducing the saint, and points to the good man as the

crowning glory. Whereas in the early days of the
church the attainment of purity was not the goal, but
merely the beginning. There were three stages or
degrees through which men passed Purification, Il-
lumination, and Perfection. Purification led to saint-
ship ;
Illumination gave interior knowledge, the
Gnosis taught Mysteries; Perfection was the
in the
attainment of unity with the Divine. The early

church went on from the point where the modern
church leaves off, and taking the saint led him to the
Beatific Vision.
During these early centuries there was a struggle

between the two elements in Christianity the few
who possessed the inner teaching, and the mass of
common believers. The exoteric element finally
gained supremacy, and the Mystics were denounced
as heretics. The Mysteries, as an organized institu-
tion, ceased temporarily for lack of suitable material.
The Sublime Secret, however, was not lost, for the
light continued to burn through all the ages.
From time to time efforts were made to revive the

institution to its former glory, but the conditions of
the age were too gross and superstitious. "Two
streams be tracked through Christen-
may nevertheless
dom, streams which had as their source the vanished
Mysteries. One was the stream of mystic learning,
flowing from theWisdom, the Gnosis, imparted in the
Mysteries [both Pagan and Christian] the other was ;
the stream of mystic contemplation, equally part of

the Gnosis, leading to the ecstasy, to spiritual vision.
This latter, however, diverted from knowledge, rarely
attained the true ecstacies." (Esoteric Christianity,

p. 107.)
These two streams can be traced through the Gnos-

tic Schools of Syria and Egypt, the Manichaeans,
Paulicians, Albigenses, Cathari, Templars, The
Knights of Malta, Troubadours, Lollards, Rosicru-
cians, Alchemists, Hermetic Masters, and many other
mystic orders.
Thus the Secret Teaching has been passed along
down Scholars, Saints and Martyrs have
the ages.
everywhere sought the hidden truth, and the various

occult brotherhoods, mystical associations, and many
so-called heretical sects, have been links in the chain
of that Wisdom
Religion, which is the source of all
religious schools and philosophies. The great Spirit-
ual Hierarchy, the guardian of the mystic tradition
(which constitutes the science of the soul), has always

been and always will be as ready to give, as man in
his evolutionary condition is ready to receive, instruc-
tion in Divine Wisdom.
With the growth of the race old forms perished,
and those who identified the spirit with the form
thought all was destroyed. But as the form perished
the conscious life sought new embodiment, and thus
have the guardians of truth passed along the higher
knowledge to those who were ready to receive it. Who
then can doubt a definite design in the preservation
of the Divine Truth through all the ages?
We shall turn to Freemasonry and show that

now
this institution is a vehicle of the same occult knowl-
edge ; that the Ancient Wisdom is still embodied in its
symbolism and rites and is obtainable as it always has

been, by those who possess the key. In showing this

connection and possession we will consider more fully
the meaning of Initiation in the Pagan and Christian
Mysteries, to which I invite your attention in the fol-
lowing lecture.
LECTURE VI.
THE MEANING OF TRUE INITIATION.
It is a well known fact that the biographies of all

the great World-Saviors closely resemble each other.
All are represented as divinely begotten, and born
at the same time of the year; all are threatened with
death in infancy; all are tempted, persecuted, and
finally slain all descend into hell and after three days
;
rise from the dead and at last all ascend into heaven
;
and become glorified Gods.
What the explanation of this wonderful simi-

is
larity in the lives of Jesus, Apollonius, Mithra, Bud-

dha, Krishna, Zoroaster, etc.? The solution of this
remarkable identity is to be found in the fact that all
these Saviors were Initiates into the Mysteries of An-
tiquity. The various narratives do not describe the
physcal of the heroes, but the inner mystic life,

life
being but a materialization of the mystic life of the

Initiate. The physical plane biographies might great-
are ever the same.
ly vary, but their lives as Initiates
In our study of the meaning of true Initiation we

shall see the origin of these stories. I will commence
various of
at the beginning and trace the stages
progress.
In the first to be recognized as a

a man
place,
and possess a well-
candidate, must be pure and holy,
developed and well-trained
mind. Having attained
the exoteric "good life," he enters on the prepara-

tion for Initiation. Certain conditions have now to
be fulfilled and certain attributes acquired. The as-
pirant for Initiation must be "worthy and well quali-
fied,duly and truly prepared." During this period
the candidate is said to be treading the Probationary
Path, the Path which leads up to the "Strait Gate,"
beyond which is the "Narrow Way," or the "Path of
Holiness," the "Way of the Cross," which leadeth
unto life.
Let me briefly sum up the attributes to be ac-

quired :
1. This means that the aspirant

Discrimination.
becomes able to distinguish between the Eternal and
the Temporal, the Real and the Unreal, so that what
is unreal to. the world becomes real to him. He must
set his affections on things above, loosen the ties on
worldly objects, and fix his aspirations on things per-
taining to the unseen. This has been called "al-

legiance to the Higher Self."
2.Devotion to Right. The aspirant here learns

to do what is right because it is right, without regard
to his own gain or loss. This is sometimes called in-
difference to personal reward as the fruit of good
actions. This indifference is the natural result of
the previous step, men cease to crave for earthly re-
wards when they realize their" impermanent char-
acter.
3. The six qualifications (a) Control of Thoughts

purity and calmness which result from control of
the mind, (b) Control of Actions mastery of one's
The Meaning of True Initiation
actions and words. (c) Tolerance freedom from

bigotry, from an exaggerated attachment to any doc-
trinal belief, leading to a wide
impartiality, (d) For-
bearance freedom from resentment in respect to
real or fancied wrongs, (e) Steadfastness incapa-
bility of being turned aside from one's purpose, (f)
Faith confidence in the power of the Master to teach
the truth, and of one's self to grasp and wield it.
4. Direct Order or Succession a clearly defined

desire for spiritual existence, and union with the
higher ideals.
5. Readiness for Initiation the result of the pre-

vious acquirements.
The candidate is not expected to fully develop these

attributes, he must, however, have made progress
in them before he is ready for the first step on the
Path Proper.
When the time comes that he is regarded fit for
Initiation, he is conducted by the Master, who has
been watching over his earlier progress, to the thresh-
old where the "Guardians of the Mysteries" open
for him the "Strait Gate."
The Path Proper is divided into four stages, or five
stages with the culmination. In the first four stages
the period between the good man and the triumphant
Master the neophyte is to cast off the ten fetters that
bind him to the circle of rebirth, and which keep him
from realizing Nirvana the highest state of spiritual
consciousness. No partial success will here suffice, he
must be entirely free before he can pass from one stage
to the next. When these fetters are cast off the ego is
ready for the fifth stage full adeptship. He becomes

an "Asekha" Adept a Christ Triumphant. The first
step in the Hindu system is called Sotapatti or Sohan.

One who attains this level is called the Sotapanna or
Sowani he who
has entered the stream, one who has
begun the higher human evolution. This evolution is
that of the Divine Child, and is called in different sys-
tems by different names Christ, Horus, Buddha, etc.
It was at this first great Initiation that the Divine
Child was born in man. This was spoken of as the

"New" or ''Second Birth" a mystic term often em-
ployed to denote the rites of Initiation. In India,
even to-day, the higher castes are called the "twice
born/' and the ceremony that -makes them such is
called Initiation. The rite of baptism is connected
with the first Initiation. It is a symbol of purifica-
tion, and signifies that the candidate has attained
the purity of character necessary for acceptance.
"In all these Mysteries," says Dr. Mackey, "the
first step taken by the candidate was a lustration or
purification. The aspirant was not permitted to

enter the sacred vestibule, or take any part in the
secret formula of Initiation, until, by water or by
fire,he was emblematically purified from the cor-
ruptions of the world which he was about to leave
behind." (Symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey, p.
93.) The purification of the body was symbolic of
a purification of the heart.
Frederic Portal, in speaking of the Egyptian Mys-
teries, says, "In Egyptian Cosmogony. water was . .
the mother of the world, the matrix of all created be-

ings. Man was considered as an image of the world,
the Initiate was to be born again to a new life and
the baptism thenceforward symbolized the primeval
The Meaning of True Initiation 113
waters; it was on this account that the Initiate was
called "Moses," a word signifying in Egyptian, accord-

ing to Josephus, saved from the water, or by the
water. water was a symbol of purity and desig-
. .
nated the birth of the pure or Initiated." (A Compari-

son of Egyptian Symbols with those of the Hebrews,
p. 81.) Again, he says, speaking of the method of
Egyptian baptism, "Horus and Thoth-Lunus pour
water on the head of the candidate, who is trans-
formed to divine life and to purity." The le-
gend accompanying this scene he translates thus,
"Horus, son of Isis, baptises with water and
fire." This is repeated three times. The name
given to the baptized or anointed, as we have
seen, was signifying regenerated, or be-
Moses,
gotten again. Remember the lawgiver of the Jews
was called by the Egyptians Moses one saved by
water, or, in other words, one Initiated. In the Acts
of the Apostles we are told that Moses was learned
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; if so, he must
have been an Initiate. The great Mystery of Egypt
was second birth, the Birth of Horus. Says W.
this
Marsham Adams, "Throughout the sacred writings
of Egypt, there is no doctrine of which more frequent
mention is made than that of a divine birth." (The
Egyptian Doctrine of Light, Adams, p. 89.)
The candidate was initiated from the Sacred Roll,

called the "Book of the Greatest Mysteries," and
after passing the Passage of the Sun, the crown of
Illumination was placed upon his head. And now
the new twice-born, "clothed in power and crowned
with light, traverses the abodes or scenes of his form-
er weakness, there to discern, by his own enlightened
perception, how it is 'Osiris who satisfies the balance

of Him who rules the Heavens; to exert in Its sup-
ernal freedom his creative will, now the Lord, not
the slave of the senses; and to rejoice in the just suf-
fering which wrought his Illumination and Mastery."

(Ibid, p. 185.)
Hermes in the "Secret Sermon on the Mountain,"

discourses on the secret of the New Birth. This
might well be called the "Initiation of Tat." The
sermon the form of a dialogue between Hermes
is in
the Master and Tat the pupil. Tat says, "In the
General Sermons, father [a technical name of the
Master or Initiator], thou didst speak in riddles most
unclear, conversing on Divinity and when thou saidst
;
no man could e'er be saved before Rebirth, thy mean-

ing thou didst hide. Further, when I became thy
Suppliant, in Wending up the Mount, after thou
hadst conversed with me, and when I longed to learn
the Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth, (for this beyond all
other things is just the thing I know not), thou saidst,
that thou wouldst give it me 'when thou shalt have
become a stranger to the world.' Wherefore I got me
ready and made the thought in me a stranger to the
world-illusion."
G. R. S. Mead, in his "Thrice Greatest Hermes,"

in commenting upon this discourse, says, "The time
has come for Tat to receive, through his Master,
the touch of the true Mind in Consciousness, the Christ
is to be born in his heart, the light of the Pleroma is
to shine in his inmost being. It is to be a New Birth,

a Regeneration, or Rebirth, in the sense of being born
from Above." (Thrice Greatest Hermes, Mead, Vol.
U. P- 2390
The Meaning of True Initiation H5
Tat had made himself ready for this Rebirth
by
passing through three stages of probation. He had
been prepared by "Wending up the Mount." The
phrase "On the Mountain" or "Wending up the Moun-
tain" is symbolical of the grades of Initiation. The
term is of frequent occurence in the Christian Gno-
stic and Apochryphal writings, and everywhere sig-
nifies the "Mount of Initiation." In the popular be-
liefs, the mountain is called the "Mount of Galilee,"
on which all the rites of Initiation were performed.
But the real "Mount" was no physical elevation, it
was the "height of contemplation, an inner state of
spiritual consciousness." Tat had been wending his
way up this "Mount" and was now ready for the
New Birth, "The crowning mystery of the Spiritual
Way for all the mystic schools of the time."
"The Tat would learn is the Mystery of

secret that
the birth from the Virgin Womb the Birth of Man,
the Great Mystery of Regeneration." (Ibid, p. 240.)
Tat entreats Hermes to explain to him the manner of
this Rebirth. But Hermes, cannot tell to Tat the
secret in words. It must be self-perceived. "This
race my child," says Hermes, "was never taught."
This is the "Race" referred to by Philo as the "Race
of Devotees who are ever taught more and more to
see, let them strive for the Initiation of That-which-is ;
let them transcend the sun which men perceive [and
gaze upon the Light beyond, the True Sun or Logos,]

nor ever leave this rank which leads to Perfect Bless-
edness. Now
they who betake themselves to the
[Divine] Service [do so], not because of any custom
or on someone's advice or appeal, but carried away
with Heavenly Love, like those Initiated into the
Bacchic and the Corybantic Mysteries; they are afire

with God until they behold the object of their love."
Again Philo says, "Now this natural class of men [lit.
race] is to be found in many parts of the inhabited

world; for both the Grecian and non-Grecian world
must needs share in the perfect Good." (Philo on
The Contemplative Life.) This "Race," then, was
the Race of Initiates, the "Race of Elxai" mentioned
by Epiphanius. Those* attaining this state apprehend-
ed the mystery of Rebirth.
Although this spiritual state could not be taught to

the neophyte in words, still, as Mead puts it, Hermes
can guide Tat toward the realization of the Blessed
Sight, by putting himself into the sublime state of
consciousness, that Tat, so to speak, bathes, or is
baptized in his Master's spiritual presence the Cup

of the Mind. This is the true laying on of hands.
Hermes describes the change that takes place in him-
self when he passes into the high spiritual conscious-
r ness. "Whene'er
within myself the Simple Vis-
I see
ion. . have passed through myself into a Body

. I
that can never die. And now I am not what I was
before; but I am born in Mind." The Master focus-
ses his consciousness in the higher part of his spirit-
ual nature transfers it to a spiritual vehicle. "The
way to do this is not taught, and it cannot be seen
by the compound element by means of which thou
seest," that cannot be understood from any sen-
is, it
sible experience. No physical sight can penetrate

this Mystery. "Thou seest me with eyes, my son,"
says Hermes, "but what I am thou dost not under-
stand." The outer physical form of the Master was
there, but his soul had been liberated from the body.
This mystery could only be understood by one who

himself had reached the higher state.
Tat's spiritual senses are being born by the aid of

the Master. He says, "Into fierce frenzy and mind
fury hast thou plunged me, father, for now no longer
do I see myself." He is losing touch with the physi-
cal plane consciousness, but that is not enough.
Hermes says, "I would, my son, that thou had'st e'en
passed right through thyself," that is, passed into the
higher vehicle, "the body that can never die." This
is the mystery that Hermes could not explain in
words. (The Secret Sermon on the Mountain.)

Isis is not permitted to declare the secret of Re-
birth openly to Horus. She says, "I may not tell the
it is not permitted to declare
story of this birth; for
the origin of thy descent, O
Horus, son of mighty
power, lest afterward the Way-of-Birth of the immor-
tal Gods should be known unto men." (Quoted in
Thrice Greatest Hermes, Vol.II, p. 242.) In the

Isis mystery tradition we find that it was a part of
the worl: to bestow this higher consciousness. Diod-

orus informs us that it was Isis who "discovered the
Philtre of by means of which, when
immortality,
her son Horus, who had been plotted against by the
Titans, and found dead beneath the waters,
not only
raised him to life, but also made him a sharer in
Initiation bestowed or restored to
immortality."
the soul the consciousness of immortality. This
was truly a new birth, an inner change, a "striking

of a new
keynote." He who is reborn into the Gno-
passes from man into the
state of super-man.
sis,
The very essence of Gnosis is the fact that man can

transcend his present limitations, and become
con-
sciously divine. This is true illumination. Those

who attained this Hermes or Horus state were to
keep silent concerning their powers, and not boast
of their Gnosis.
We same teaching in the Christian Mys-

find this
teries. Jesus says, "Except a man be born again
he cannot see the Kingdom of God." (John, in, 3.)
Peter says, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in
obeying the truth. being born again not of cor-
. .
ruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of

God which liveth and abideth forever." (/. Peter L
22-23.)
The birth is spoken of as that of "water and the
spirit." In the Mysteries of Jesus, as in all others,
baptism was always connected with the first Initiatory
Rite. Many illustrations of this pivot doctrine of
the early church might be cited from Gnostic writings.
The over-writer of the Naassene Document tells us
that the Lesser Mysteries pertain to fleshly genera-
tion, whereas the Greater, deal with the new or sec-

ond birth, with regeneration and not with genesis.
In speaking of the Mystery of Regeneration, the
writer says, "For this is the Gate of Heaven, and
this is the House of God, where the Good God
dwells alone; into which [house] no impure [man]
shall come no psychic, no fleshly [man] but it is
kept under watch for the spiritual alone where,
when they come, they must cast away their garments,
and all become bridegrooms, obtaining their true man-

hood through the Virginal Spirit. For this is the
Virgin, big with Child, conceiving and bearing
a
son not psychic, not fleshly, but a blessed Aeon of
Aeons," that is, an immortal God. This is the birth
of the Christ, or Horus in man, the Great

-Mystery
that awaits us when we have made ourselves
strangers
to the world illusion, as Hermes puts it, or as Jesus
says in one of his new found sayings, "Except ye

fast to the world, ye shall in no wise find the King-
dom of God." This writing is important, as it shows
that the inner teaching of Christianity was identical
with the tenets of the other Mysteries Eleusinian,
Egyptian, Mithraic, Dionysian, etc. The date of this
Christian over-writer was about the middle of the
second century.
In the mystery ritual of Initiation in the "Acts

of John," we read, "Who I am, thou shalt know when
I depart [that is, by contrast]. What
seen to I am
be, that am I not ; but what I am, thou shalt see when
thou comest." In other words, this spiritual state
must be realized to be known, and only those who
had attained the Christ state the Perfect Initiate
could know it. Remember the words of Hermes al-
ready cited, "Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but
what I am thou dost not understand." This con-
sciousness transcends man's normal state.
Although the new birth primarily signfied the first
great Initiation, when the white robed neophyte en-

tered the "Communion of Saints," still, the mystic
term might .well indicate the other stages of soul de-
velopment, for it signalized the entrance to a new

life. The Initiate is ushered into a new state of con-
sciousness at each stage, as much so as the new born
infant when ushered into physical existence. It is
difficult for us to these higher states of con-
imagine
into
sciousness, but each state ushered the candidate
a new realm, where, while retaining hold on the physi-
cal plane, he had to adapt himself to new conditions.

Each was a sign and symbol of spiritual con-
rite
sciousness which had come to the new born disciple.

"The Christ principle, the intuitional Wisdom, is
born in the soul, and when that Buddhic [spiritual]
consciousness is awakened, the soul becomes again,
as it were, a little child, born into that higher life of
the Initiated, which is in truth Kingdom of
the
Heaven." (Christian Creed, Leadbeater, p. 76.) The
new born Son, the "little child," a technical term de-
noting one just Initiated, is now to live the divine

life and become "like unto the Father" pass from
Sonship to Perfection.
The new or spiritual birth, then, is a mystic fact.

The materialization of this inner truth into the dogma
of the "Virgin Birth" must have been a comparatively
late development in the evolution of popular or gen-
eral Christianity. The dogma is not to be found in
the common document, and the earlier traditions all
state that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus.

Celsus accused the Christians of changing their gospel
story many times in order to better answer the ob-
jections of opponents. This is true only of the ex-
oteric tradition.
Now let us consider the various stages in the evo-

lution of the Christ in man. To understand this
higher evolution, which constituted the work of the
True Mysteries, we must understand man's constitu-
tion.
We 1
terminology because
will use here the Christian
of familiarity with the terms, but the facts described
are the same in all systems.
Christian theology usually accepts the three-fold

division Spirit, Soul and Body. This is sound, but
in order to understand the Mystery of the life of the
Divine Child, especially his crucifixion, resurrection
and ascension, we shall need a further subdivision
of man's constitution. The spirit is itself a trinity,
containing the three aspects of the divine life In-
telligence, Love and Will; the soul is twofold, com-
posed of the mind and emotional nature; the body
is the material instrument of the soul and spirit, and is
also dual, beingcomposed of the dense physical body

and its These lower portions or prin-
etheric double.
ciples the dual physical body, the desire or emo-

tional body, and the mental body form the natural
body spoken of by of St. Paul. The Aipostle says,
"There is a natural body and there is a spiritual
body." The spiritual is made up of the three higher
principles. The lowest of these is sometimes called
the Causal body, the second division the Bliss or
Glorified or resurrected body, the third and highest
division, the Atmic body.

These principles or bodies are correlated with the
lower five of the seven planes of our universe. The
normal evolution of mankind takes place on the three
lowest planes; the Super-normal evolution, that of
the Initiate, proceeds on the next two planes which
are the spiritual. These five planes constitute the
field of the evolution of consciousness until the "hu-
man merges into the divine."
Bearing these divisions of man's constitution

in
mind and the planes to which they are correlated, we

are ready to study the mystery of the Christ evolu-
tion. This evolution is set forth in the story of the
Mystic Christ. The Mystic Christ is one aspect of

the Christ of the Mysteries. The Mystic Christ deals
with this Christ evolution, which is the development
of the Love, or second aspect, of the unfolding divine
spirit in man, called the Christ; the other aspect,
called theMythic Christ, is the Logos, the second
Aspect or Person of the Trinity, descending into
matter.
The development of the first division of the spirit-

ual body, the aspect of intelligence, takes place in the
ordinary life of the world. When this intellectual
development has been carried to a high point, ac-

companied by moral development, then the man is
ready for the evolution of the second aspect of the
spirit, the second division of the spiritual body, that
of Love, called the Christ.
We will consider first this aspect of the Mystic
Christ the evolution of the Christ of the human
spirit. This is the "Christ who is in every one of
us, who is born and lives, is crucified, rises from the
dead, and ascends into heaven in every suffering and
triumphant Son of Man." This is the story of the
mystic life of every Initiate.
We have seen that at the first great Initiation the

Christ is born in the disciple. This is the second
birth to which we have referred. He is born into
the Kingdom of Heaven as a little child the name
given to a new Initiate. Jesus said that except a
man becomes as a little child he cannot enter the
Kingdom.
Every such is beset by perils
child that do not
befall others. The dark powers seek his undoing,
but the Christ child once born cannot be destroyed. He

grows in wisdom and spiritual stature until the time
comes for the second great Initiation, symbolized by
the baptism "by water and the spirit," which confers on
him the powers necessary for the Teacher. He then
goes forth into the world to labor, and is led by the
Spirit into the wildnerness, and is there exposed to
severe temptations. The evil powers strive to
lure him from his set purpose, bidding him use his
unfolding powers to secure worldly ends. But tri-

umphant over those temptations, he uses the powers
which he would not employ for his own needs, to save
the world. This devotion to service leads him to the
third great Initiation, symbolized by the Transfigura-
tion. He again ascends "the mountain apart," the
sacred mount of initiation, but he cannot there remain.
He sets his face resolutely toward Jerusalem, where
he is to meet the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of
Fire the final test and the last stage of the "Way of
the Cross." He is now ready for the fourth great In-
itiation,symbolized by the passion. He has become vic-
torious over the lower nature, and is willing to nail
it to the cross. Although he enters into Jerusalem
in triumph and in full confidence that he is prepared
for the sacrifice, there comes the bitter agony in the
garden, and for a moment

he prays that the cup may
and pain,
p ass_that bitter cup of betrayal, desertion
when in the horrors and darkness of this final trial it
seems that even the Father has forsaken him. His
inner vision is blinded, and he thinks himself alone;
but he is still steadfast, and with an unconquering
into
trust he yields up the lower life, and descends
that no in the universe may remain un-
hell, region
trodden. But liberated from the material body he
sees the light once more, and feels himself again as

the Son, and is ready for the fifth Initation, symbol-
ized by the resurrection and ascension, and rises tri-
umphant over death and hell; then He remains for a

time on earth to teach his disciples, and at last ascends
into Heaven.
This story of the gospel biography sets forth in
allegory the life history of every Initiate. The in-
itiatory rites symbolize the stages through which the

candidate passes. The stage of the soul's progress
typified by death, burial and resurrection, was called
in Egypt "the death rite," and by the Gnostic Chris-
tians "the Initiation of the Cross."
The candidate was received by the initiating Hiero-

phant at the proper time and place, usually a secluded
chamber in a temple or pyramid, and laid on the
stone floor with arms outstretched; sometimes on a
wooden cross, which was hollowed out to support the
human figure. He was then touched with the thyr-
sus, the "spear of the crucifixion," on the heart; he
then passed into a deep trance. The body was placed
in a sarcophagus of stone, a vault or tomb beneath
the floor of the Hall of Initiation; and carefully
guarded. Meantime, while the body was dead and
buried, he himself was fully alive in the invisible
world (Hades), and undergoing what was called the
tests of earth, water, fire and air. He then put on
his perfected Bliss Body, which was now fully or-
ganized as a vehicle of consciousness. After the

third day the cross, bearing the body, was lifted up
and carried out into the air on the east side of the
pyramid or temple and placed on a sloping surface
ready to greet the rising sun. At the moment the
first rays touched the face, the perfected Initiate, the

Horus or Christ, rose from the dead, resuscitated the
body, and glorified it by his resurrected body, no
longer a natural man but a spiritual man, having over-
come death and hell.
The trance typifies his "death unto sin"; the re-

vival, his "rebirth or resurrection unto righteousness."
In the "Acts of John" there is preserved the tradition
of the inner schoolson the mystery of the "In-
itiation of the Cross." We find here no trace of the
literal historic tradition. The crucifixion was an in-
ner experience of the soul. The cross was a symbol
of the crucifixion of the soul in the matter and its
regeneraton. "Mystical death," says Dr. Hartman, "is
identical with spirital regeneration." ("Magic White
and Black," Hartman, p. 185.) The cross also sym-
bolizes cosmic processes. If the "Acts of John" had
given the drama of Initiation, as well as the liturgy, we
should undoubtedly have seen that the passion of Christ
was something quite different from what has been
popularly supposed. I have shown in the pieceding
lectures that the symbolic rites of "crucifixion" and

the "resurrection of the dead," were connected with
the most world-wide mystic festivals of antiquity, a
highly important fact, for it enables us to understand
the meaning of the Christian crucifixion and resur-
rection.
When the neophyte reached a certain stage of
perfection or enlightenment, he was said to

"rise
from the dead." The phrase "resurrection from the

dead" is a mystical phrase used to represent the new
birth or resurrection, the Gnostic illumination. When
the candidate reached this stage he was immortal
had attained unbroken consciousness of his spiritual

ego; he became now the triumphant Christ, "I am he
that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for-
evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and
death." (Rev. I, 18.)
Let me
here cite several authorities regarding this
important ceremony: Dr. Oliver, speaking of In-
itiation, says, "It was considered to be a mystical
death or oblivion of all the stains and imperfections
of a corrupted and evil life, as well as a descent into
hell, where every pollution was purged by lustrations

of fireand water; and the perfect Epopt was then
said to be regenerated or new born, restored to a
renovated existence of life, light and purity, and
placed under divine (History of In-
protection."
itiation, Oliver, p. n.) In his "Signs and Symbols,"
he again says, "In all the Ancient Mysteries, before
an aspirant could claim to participate in the higher
secrets of the institution, he was placed within the
Pastos, or Bed, or Coffin; or, in other words, was sub-
jected to a solitary confinement for a prescribed period
of time, that he might reflect seriously, in seclusion and
darkness, on what he was about to undertake. . . .
This was the symboical death of the mysteries, and

his deliverance from confinement was the act of
regeneration or being born again; or, as it was also

termed, being raised from the dead. The cere- . .
mony here alluded to was, doubtless, the same as the

descent into Hades. His resurrection from the
. .
bed [or tomb] was his restoration to life, or his
regeneration into a new world; and it was virtually

the same as his return from Hades. . . The candi-
date was made to undergo these changes in scenic
representation; and was placed under the Pastos in

perfect darkness, generally for the space of three
days and nights." (Signs and Symbols, Oliver, p. 78).
Dr. Mackey says, "The vault was, in the Ancient
Mysteries, symbolic of the grave, for Initiation was
symbolic of death, where alone divine Truth is to
be found." (Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Mackey,
p. 852.) He again says,"The intention of the cere-
monies of Initiation into them, was, by a scenic
representation of death, and subsequent restoration to
life, to impress the great truths of the resurrection
of the dead and the immortality of the soul. .They .
were all funereal in their character; they began in

sorrow and lamentation, they ended in joy; there was
an aphanism, or burial a pastos, or grave an eure-
; ;
sis, or discovery of what had been lost ; and a legend,

or mythical relation all of which were entirely and
profoundly symbolical in their character." (The Sym-

bolism of Freemasonry, Mackey, p. 38).
Faber says, "The Initiation into the Mysteries

scenically represented the mystic descent into Hades
and the return from thence to the light of day."
("Origin of Pagan Idolatry," Fabcr, Vol. IV., p. 384).
Many other authorities might be cited in evidence

of this ceremony, but this will suffice to prove the
ceremony universal and connected with all the Mys-
tery Institutions.
The saying of Jesus that the "Son of Man shall
remain three days and three nights in the heart of
the earth," corresponds with the ancient rite, but in

the gospel story of the resurrection the interval from
Friday evening to Sunday morning cannot be

re-
garded as three days and three nights. It has been

suggested that the shortening of the time was due
to the fact that in the degeneracy of the Mysteries,
where attempts were made to minimize all require-
ments, the original period became so tedious to candi-
dates who could not pass into the trance, that the
time was reduced from seventy-two hours to twenty-
seven, by just reversing the figures, thus saving the
candidate nearly two full days of solitary confine-
ment. The materialized gospel story, evidently fol-
lowed this later practice.
These great rites stood originally for great spirit-

ual truths. The body with which the candidate
"rose from the dead" was the Bliss Body the body
of the Christ which had been developed during the
period of service on earth. This body belongs to the
life of the Initiate the Christ life. Its building begins
at the second birth, when born in man,
the Christ is
and reaches its completion at the resurrection. Dur-

ing this evolutionary period, when the Son is "be-
ing made perfect" the Initiate is called the "Son of
Man;" the perfected, risen, and glorified Christ is
called the "Son of God."
There is still another feature of the Christ story

the Ascension. This has to do with the third part of
the spiritual body, the putting on of the Atmic body,
or the Vesture or Robe of Glory, as it is called in the
Pistis Sophia. Spirtual evolution consists in the or-
ganization and vitalizationof the various Garments
or Sheaths of man Robes of Power
into Vestures or
and Glory, for the use of the Regenerate in the "Path
of Ascent," the "Way Above." The highest Vesture
prepares the Son for union with the Father, and as

a spiritual fact this is symbolized by the Ascension.
The material story of the Ascension is an historiciza-
tion of this inner mystic truth, experienced by every
soul that becomes consciously one with God.
"The ascension for humanity is when the whole
race has attained the Christ condition, the state of the
Son, and that Son becomes one with the Father, and
God in all. That is the goal, prefigured in the
is all
triumph of the Initiate, but reached only when the

human race is perfected and when 'the great orphan,
Humanity,' is no longer an orphan, but consciously
recognizes itself as the Son of God." (Esoteric Chris-
tianity, Besant, p. 249.)
LECTURE VII.
THE MEANING OF TRUE INITIATION.
(Concluded.)
We have seen in the preceding lecture that the

Christ of the Mysteries has two aspects the Mystic
and the Mythic. In the Mystic, the Microcosm,
Man, the Christ of the Mysteries, represents the sec-
ond aspect of the divine spirit in humanity, called the
Christ; in the Mythic, the Macrocosm, the Cosmos,
the Christ of the Mysteries, represents the Logos in
His manifestation through His Second Aspect.
In the preceding lecture we have studied the Mys-

tic Christ ; now we are to consider the Mythic Christ.
The great facts of the spiritual life were carefully
guarded in the Mysteries, and given out to the world

only in symbolic language. The Solar or Sun-Myth
is the popular teaching concerning the Cosmic Mythic
Christ the Christ of the Solar

Myths or legends. A
Myth we must remember not mere fiction; it may
is
be truer than written history; it is a great truth em-

bodied in a pictorial form. All symbols were em-
ployed by Initiates with a definite meaning; we need,
therefore, to know the true meaning of the symbols
in order to read the true meaning of the Myth.
The Solar-Myth sets forth, primarily, the activity
of theLogos (the Mythic Christ) in the universe;
secondarily, the mystic life of the Initiate. This
story of the Sun-God, then, is of utmost importance.

It begins with his birth at the winter solstice, after
the shortest day of the year, in the early morning
hours of Dec. 25th, as the sign Virgo is rising above
the horizon. He is thus born of a Virgin who remains
such after giving birth to her Sun-Child, for the celes-
tialVirgo is still unchanged. In the ancient drawings
Virgo of the Zodiac is represented as a woman suck-
ling a child here we find the origin of the symbol of
;
the Madonna.
The Sun-God is weak and feeble in his infancy

born at the period when the days are shortest and the
nights longest, as with us on this side of the equa-
torial line. He is beset by perils in his early youth,
but he outlives the threatening dangers of darkness
and storm, and grows to manhood. However, he is
rapidly approaching his crucifixion, and the glorious

days preceding the spring equinox are soon to be
clouded by the solar disturbances incident upon his
crossing the line. This crossing was called the cruci-
fixion, the date varying with each year. But like all
so-called death it is an illusion merely a transition
to a higher life. The Sun-God soon rises triumph-
antly and ascends into heaven the storms are dissi-
pated and darkness gives way to all-conquering light.
Jupiter, Osiris, Ormuzd, Apollo, are

victorious over
all their foes. All nature rejoices, celebrating their
conquest, and order is re-established in place of the

dire confusion that reigned while gloomy Typhon or
Ahriman was dominant. Thus everywhere we find
the fable that typifies triumph of Light over

the
darkness. The Sun could not be kept entombed by
the elements. He rose from the dead and ascended
into heaven, where, at the Summer Solstice, he at-

tained the acme of his glory and perfection. There
he rules triumphant and gives his very lite to ripen
the fruit and grain and so sustain his worshipers.
These are the salient points in the lives of all the

Sun-Gods, for each is born on the 25th of December,
and crucified at the Vernal equinox. The birth-date
is fixed, while the death-date is variable. This of it-
self should be sufficient to show us that both Christ-

mas and Easter (the Sunday following the next full
moon were originally solar

after the vernal equinox)
festivals. A festival calculated by the relative posi-
tions of sun and moon, was not designed to commem-
orate the anniversary of any historical event. We
are not here dealing with the history of a man, but
with the Hero of a solar myth.
It is interesting to note that the fast preceding the
Easter festival is world-wide, and in many countries
extended to the time limit of our modern Lent
forty days. Of course, the original period was only
the time intervening between the death and resurrec-
tion.
Another interesting fact in this connection is that

the animal adopted as the symbol of the Hero is the
sign of the Zodiac in which the Sun is at the vernal
equinox of his age, and this varies with the pre-
cession of the equinoxes. Thus Cannes and Jesus
had the sign Pisces the Fishes; Mithra and Osiris
Taurus the Bull Jupiter- Ammon- Aries the Lamb,
;
etc., while Jesus is also represented as the Lamb.

The Sun-Myth, then, primarily sets forth the ac-
tivity of the Logos in the Cosmos. This activity is
reflected in a partial way in the yearly course of the

Sun. The Logos,His Second Aspect, as the Cos-
in
mic-Mythic Christ, descends into matter becomes

incarnate, clothed in "flesh." He thus sacrifices him-
selfby putting on the limitations of matter, entering
the womb of matter which is yet virgin, unproduc-
tive. This matter
has been vivified by the Holy
Spirit that might presently take form and is thus
it
prepared to receive the life of the Second Logos, the

Son aspect of God, who took this matter as a vehicle
for his energies. The original of the Nicene Creed
ran thus, "And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and
the Virgin Mary" not of the virgin-matter alone, but
of matter already pulsating with the life of the Third
Logos, so that both the life and the matter surrounded
Him as a vesture.
Thus was the descent of the Logos into matter de-

scribed, in the historicized life of the Saviors,
as "Virgin Birth," and in the Solar Myth as
the
the birth of the Sun-God. The misapprehension of
this allegorical illustration, as the life history of a
physical human being, and its identification

with Jesus,
and the various other World- Saviors, was most unfor-
tunate and misleading.
After the incarntaion "come the early workings of

of
the Logos in matter, aptly typified by the infancy
the Myth. To all the feebleness of infancy His Ma-
jestic powers
bow themselves, letting but little play
im-
forth on the tender forms they ensoul. Matter
to slay, its infant
prisons, seems as though threatening
whose is veiled by the limitations He has
King, glory
assumed. Slowly He it towards high ends,
shapes
into manhood, and then stretches Himself
and lifts it
on the cross of matter that He may pour forth from

that cross all the powers of His surrendered life. . .
Dead He seems and buried out of sight, but He rises

again clothed in the very matter in which He seemed
to perish, and carries up His body of now radiant
matter into heaven, where it receives the
downpouring
life of the Father, and becomes the vehicle of man's
immortal life. For it is the life of the Logos which

forms the garment of the soul in man, and He gives it
that men may live through the ages and grow to the
measure of his own statue. Truly are we clothed in
Him, first materially and then spiritually." (Esoteric
Christianity, p. 181.)
The Logos thus leaves the plane of Infinitude,

whereHe is one with the Father, and becomes incar-
nate, and is finally crucified in space. This is the
crucifixion of Christ, the great cosmic sacrifice, rep-
resented by the symbol of the crucified Man, which
at lastbecomes materialized into an actual death by
crucifixon. The story thus historicized became at-
tached to the various World-Saviors. But the orig-
inal crucifixion was 90 disgrace, for the symbol used
to represent this mystery is that of the Heavenly Man,
with arms outstretched, pouring life and light into
His creatures. The Solar-Myth

outlines these great
spiritual facts regarding the working of God in the

universe.
Every symbol has both a primary and a secondary

meaning. The Sun is a symbol of the Logos in its
primary meaning, but it also represents any one who
is representative of the Logos. Thus a Great Initi-
ate, sent on a special mission to the world, would, by
virtue of his office and mission, have the Sun as his
135
symbol. All who are thus signified would have cer-

tain characteristics in common and pass through cer-
tain activities, and thus of necessity there would
arise similarities in the lives of these ambassadors
their life history as Initiates outlined the
being by
course of the Sun.
When one becomes an Initiate, or when an Initiate

is sent out into the world as a Teacher of men, and
especially when a spirit such as Jesus becomes a Hier-

ophant in the Mysteries, then the legends of the
Mythic Christ, which have been told of other Great
Ones, surround Him and He becomes clothed in the
drapery of the Solar-Myth. This is perfectly natu-
ral and proper, for the Solar-Myth typifies the vari-
ous stages of progress through whch He has passed,
and this symbolism could only be applied to one who
had attained- the Christ stage of evolution. With
such a one the festival of his nativity became the
date when the Son was born in the Virgin, and the
sign of the zodiac at the vernal equinox became that
of his crucifixion. Although these dates were purely
arbitrary, adopted from the Sun-Myth, the facts sym-
bolized by the birth, death, and resurrection were
living realities in the Mystic life of every Son of God.
The adoption of these dates into the materialized life-
story of the Great Saviors is thus readily explained

they were derived from the solar symbolism. The
fact that the rites of Initiation and the Solar-Myth
both symbolize the same thing, the former primarily
typifying the growth of the soul, secondarily the work
of the Logos, and vice versa, made the inter-weaving
of the symbolism in this particular perfectly natural,
especially so as the great solar festivals, the solstices
and equinoxes, were the times when the Mysteries

were celebrated and the rites of Initiation adminis-
tered. Thus both the Mythic and Mystic Christ have
contributed to the gospel story.
These Sun-Myth stories have recurred through all
the ages, having been told and retold in turn of each

great Teacher, the legends of the Mythic Christ,
Buddha, Krishna, mingling with the history of each,
and crystallizing about each as an historical person-
age. But these materialized stories pertain especially
to the life of the Son of Man, a distinctive title, not
of an individual but an office. When one attains this
level and stands in this relation to humanity, then,
as a representative of God, the story of the Logos in
the Sun becomes his own indeed, for the facts under-
lying this story have been wholly realized in his spir-

itual life.
Here we learn the manner in which arose the story

of the death, burial and resurrection of a crucified
Savior. On the lines of the Solar-Myth and the
Initiatory rites, the materializing tendency of man
wrought out for itself, in each religion, an historical
narrative of a personal Savior, who is virgin born, is
crucified, rises from the dead, and finally ascends
into heaven ; or, the historicizing, may, in some in-
stances, have been purposely done by those who

knew, the popular narrative being written for the
multitude in such a way as to set forth the Mys-
teries allegorically. In either case, and perhaps both
methods played a part (we have abundant proof of
the former and many indications of the latter), the
account symbolizes the inner doctrine and sets forth
figuratively the occult teaching of the Gnosis. But
the realmeaning of the symbolical teaching of the

Myth and Ritual has been practically lost sight of;
most people to-day regard the narratives as the
physical life history of individuals. However, there
are some who are beginning to understand that the
symbolical teaching of the death, burial, and resur-
rection are but typical of the soul's progress.
Jesus of Nazareth, like Buddha, Krishna, and many

others, was draped with the stories of the Logos, and
the salient events in the Sun-Myth become the salient
events in his physical life. The symbols, once ma-
terialized, were attached to each Divine Teacher in
turn, giving rise to the wonderful similarities in their
respective biographies.
But let us not lose sight of the fact that the mystic
birth, baptism, transfiguration, death, resurrection and
ascension were realities in the life history of every
Initiate. This drama is repeated in every soul that
becomes a Christ.
The story of the gospel was originally a religious

romance intended for spiritual instruction, but the
later bishops of the outer churches, not having the
key to the inner meaning, accepted the romance as
actual history. It is said that "The 'common docu-
ment' [which formed the basis of the canonical gos-
pels] is to be traced to the sketch of an ideal life
which was intended for purposes of propaganda,
and which could be further explained to those who
were ready for more definite instructions in the true
nature of the Christ-Mystery, To a certain extent
it was based on some of the traditions of the actual
historic doings of Jesus, but the historical details were

often transformed by the light of the mystery-teach-

ing, and much was added in changed form concern-
ing the drama of the Christ Mystery; allegories and
parables and actual mystery doings were woven into it,
with what appears now to be a consummate art which
has baffled for ages the intellect of the world, but
which at the time was regarded by the writer as a
modest effort at simplifying the spiritual truths of the
Inner life, by putting them forward in the form of
what we should now call a 'historical romance,' but
which in his day was one of the natural methods of
haggada and apocalyptic." (Did Jesus Live 100
Years B. C.f Mead, p. 422.)
The author of this romance never dreamed that the
story would be taken otherwise than as he intended
it a symbol, but in the compilation of the canonical
accounts much legend and historicized dogma was
built around this original romance.
The mystic teaching in this way became accepted
first as history and finally as dogma. Irenaeus was
one of the chief developers of the dogmas. The
Gnostics contended that he and those like him who
accepted the crude literal view, did not know the ori-
gin and meaning of these things. Papius and Mar-
cion, who were earlier than Irenaeus, insisted that
such scripture was not reliable as absolute history.
The Gnostics knew how these scriptures were made
and they possessed a "memory of the manner of things
done and said from the earliest times, and looked with
amazement on the narrow and cramping beliefs that
the bishops of the outer churches were imposing on
Christendom as the only truths of the Christ-revela-
tion. . This contention of the Gnostics, as of
.
men earlier than Justin and Irenaeus, is still sub-
judice before the bar of history. It means a total

reconstruction of the history of the origins." (G.R.
S. Mead in Theosophical Review, March, '06.)
The
Gnostics treated the gospel legends, not as his-
tory, but as symbolic of cosmic processes and the
drama of Initiation. I have already shown that the
Gnostics did not accept the crucifixion and resurrec-
tion of Jesus as historic facts. Justin Martyr also i
gives evidence that the early church did not under-

stand these things in a literal sense. He says, "And
when we say that the Word (Logos) which is the
first begetting of God was begotten without inter-
course, and that he was

Jesus Christ, our Master,
crucified, and was dead, and rose again and ascend-
ed into heaven, we bring forward no new thing be-
yond those among you who are called Sons of Zeus.
For ye know how many sons the writers who
are held in honor among you ascribe to Zeus:
Hermes, the Word (Logos), who was the inter-
preter and teacher of all; and Asclepius, who
was also a healer and was smitten by the bolt [of
his sire] and ascended into heaven. .
[and many
.
others]." (Quoted in Thrice Greatest Hermes, Mead,

Vol. Ill, p. 217.) Justin Martyr here asserts that the
Christians bring forward no new thing in the doctrines
of Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension "beyond
"
those among you who are called the 'Sons of Zeus.'
The doctrine, then, was a part of the Mysteries, well
known by all who had attained to the state of Sons
of God. This mystery could not be understood by
the uninitiated, and so Justin appeals to the Sons of
Zeus, and assures them that he has no new
doctrine.
This is conclusive evidence that at the time of Justin

Martyr, 140 to 1 60 A. D., these great spiritual reali-
ties in the Mystic life were not regarded by some, at

least, as historical facts.
Justin further says, "But as to the Son of God

called Jesus, even though he were only a man
[born] in the common way, [yet] because of [his]
wisdom he worthy to be called Son of God; for all
is
writers call God 'Father of men and gods/ And

if we say [further] that he was also in a special way,
beyond the common birth, begotten of God [as] Word

(Logos) of God, let us have this in common with
you who call Hermes the Word [Logos] who brings
tidings from God." (Ibid, p. 217.)
The Sonship of Jesus, then, was considered the

same as that of Hermes. And
note also that "begot-
ten of God" did not refer to physical birth, but to
something beyond. Justin distinctly stated that Jesus

was a man born in the common way. This higher
birth by which man was begotten of God, and so be-
came a "Son," was not exceptional with Christianity.
In fact, Justin Martyr wants it distinctly understood
that he teaches nothing new, but merely claims for
Jesus the distinctive title of a Son of God, in the same

sense as were Hermes, Asclepius, Dionysus, and oth-
ers, Sons of God, that is, he claimed Jesus was an
Initiate.
Origen also is in accord with Justin Martyr. He

speaks of the "mystery of the resurrection" and con-
trasts this inner doctrine, (which he says is not un-
derstood by unbelievers,) with the exoteric doctrine
of the resurrection which was known to all and was
an article of faith among many. (Origen Against

Celsus, Book I, Ch. VII.} It is quite evident that
there was a wide difference between the mystic doc-
trine of the crucifixion and resurrection, and the pop-
ular exoteric faith.
Thus studying the inner teaching of the Mysteries

we see that Christ is not a unique personage, but the
first fruits the promise of man made perfect. The
Initiate has ever been thus regarded, for to attain the
Christ-state is salvation. "The stage of discipleship
was to pass into that of Sonship. The life of the Son
was to be lived among men till it was closed by the res-
urrection, and the glorified Christ became one of the

perfected Saviors of the World." (Esoteric Chris~
tianity, Besant, p. 250.)
Every man isa potential Christ, and the purpose

of evolution is to raise every human being to the sub-
lime degree of a Master Christ.
LECTURE VIII.
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF FREE-

MASONRY.
The majority of the uninitiated believe that every-
thing connected with Masonry is to be kept a secret.
This is an error, for there are many books written on
Masonry which are open to the perusal of all, whether
they be members of or strangers to the Order. I
shall divulge no pledged secrets.
The Eminent Masonic Scholars, Messrs. Stillson

and Hughan, in introducing the "History of Free-
masonry and Concordant Orders," plainly state that,
"Neither is the work necessarily for Freemasons
alone; for not a few of the chapters furnish excel-
lent and suggestive reading for those who would like
to know somewhat of the Brotherhood either prior to
joining its ranks, or because of this eligible oppor-
tunity to peruse a reliable account of so venerable and
pre-eminently respectable an Organization."
Except for some portions of the Ceremony the

signs and passwords which relate to the modes of
recognition, there is nothing secret in Masonry.
There has been so much misunderstanding on this
subject that perhaps it might be well to corroborate
this statement. The same standard authority just
cited says, "At the outset, therefore, it is well to point
out that the Masonic fraternity is not, strictly speak-
The Origin and History of Freemasonry 143
ing, a secret society, for it has neither secret aims

nor constitutions. Everywhere its laws may be per-
used by 'friend and foe' alike, and its objects are
exclusively those which are, and always have been,
published to the world. It is private rather than
secret; for, unless it be our esoteric customs, which
relate, directly or indirectly, to our universal and spe-
cial modes of recognition, we have no secrets."
Many absurd notions regarding Masonry have

gained credence in the past, even among Masons
themselves. We are pleased to see that modern Ma-
sonic writers are endeavoring to right these miscon-
ceptions. Formerly it was regarded as treason to

speak to the profane the truth regarding the history
of the Order. That certain exaggerated statements
were made in the days when little was known of the
history of the institution, gives no reason for a con-
tinuance of these errors.
There is no reason to-day for the pretensions that

Freemasonry originated in the days of King Solomon,
or with the Jewish Patriarchs, or that the fundamental

doctrines of Masonry the unity of God and the Im-
mortality of the soul were the exclusive possession
of any one people or religion. Such claims were made
before the science of comparative religions was so
well known. For modern investigation of the world-
religions show us that these beliefs were world-wide,
and held by all the great nations of antiquity before
the Jewish nation was born, or Abraham had left the

valley of the Euphrates.
Neither is the old Masonic tradition tenable that
all the knowledge of the ancient Mysteries and the

present interior form of Freemasonry was derived

from the Tyrian workmen at the building of King
Solomon's Temple. There is no evidence that the
Jews possessed this "interior form," or that Masonry
itselfincluded it before 1717 when it was intro-
duced into the Order by those who had a knowledge
of the Ancient Mysteries. Masonry, then, is not a
lineal descendant of the Mysteries ;
but is moulded
upon them. The Reconstructionists built upon the
ancient myths, using symbols known from the earliest
days, and wove these symbols and myths derived from

the Mysteries, into the symbolism of Solomon's Tem-
ple.
Thetraveling Freemasons of the Middle Ages may

or may not have been descendants of the Dionysian
artificers of this we have no evidence, nor do we
;
know the exact date of the beginning of the Masonic

movement, but are assured it can lay claim to no
great antiquity the actual history of the Craft ex-
tending no further back than some six centuries.
And then this early organization, prior to the recon-
struction period of 1717, was something quite different
from its present form modern Masonry being an
entirely new departure.
The application of the term Freemasonry to the

Ancient Mysteries, whether Jewish or Pagan, is then
misleading; and the designation of the former as
pure and the absurd and without
latter as spurious, is
any basis Both systems were derived from

in fact.
the same source and both are true; however, the

Pagan antedated the Jewish by many thousands of
years. It is curious what people will do and to what
extremes they will go in support of a theological creed !
The Origin and History of
Freemasonry
Although the origin of the Masonic movement is

modern, we hold that it had its source in true
Mys-
ticism, and is one of the channels of the teach-
Mystic
ing. In corroboration of this let us note some of the
connecting links between the esoteric schools of the
early Christian centuries and the later Masonic move-
ment.
The words of the well known Masonic authority, E.

Macbean, are of interest in this connection. He says,
"I may suggest that some portion at least of our sym-
bolism may have come through a Templar source,
Romanist, yet deeply tinged with Gnosticism; while
at a later date the Lollards, (supposed to be inheritors
of Manicheism), and who were but one of the many
with which Europe was honey-
religo-political societies
combed, possibly introduced or revived some of these
teachings. .One thing is certain, that satisfactory
.
renderings of our symbols can only be obtained by a

study of Eastern Mysticism; Kabbalistic, Hermetic,
Pythagorean, and Gnostic. Down the centuries we
names of philosophic teachers who
find enrolled the
veiled their doctrines in figures similar to those in
vogue among the Rosicrucians and still more recent

students, and often identical with the signs we blazon
on the walls of our Lodges and Chapters." (Hidden
Sources of Masonry, Cooper-Oakley, pp. 34-35.)
One tradition traces Masonry to Manicheism or

The Sons of the Widow. John Yarker, in speaking
of this order, says, "About the year, 200, A. D., the
most noteworthy Gnostic sect was a Persian branch
of the Manichees; it was divided into three classes
Auditors, Elect and Perfect, and the sect was ruled by
twelve Apostles, with a thirteenth as President. . .
The Rite had a Theosophical Gospel, which taught

that the basis of all religion was one. In 657 they
had changed their names to Paulicians, and later
Cathari, Euchites, Bogomiles, and in still more recent

times still, Lollards. .
They were a secret spec-
.
ulative society, with degrees, distinguished by signs,

tokens and words like Freemasonry." (The Kneph,
Vol. V, No. 4.)
This order was founded by Mani, as a restatement

of the old truths of the Mysteries, and contained the
true Gnosis. He combined the teachings of Zoroaster
with those of Jesus both being aspects of the same
Wisdom, but the mystery teaching had come to be
regarded as heretical by the established Orthodoxy
of both religions, consequently he was put to death
by the Persians, and his disciples likewise slain by the
Christians.
The Manicheans, from the fourth century, were

bitterly persecuted by the Roman Church; the society,
however, spread rapidly in spite of all opposition.
Says Reghellina da Schio, a well known Italian
Mason, "In the lifetime of Manes [Mani], his pupil,
Herman, had spread his teaching in Egypt, where
the Coptic priests and other Christians mingled it
with the Mysteries adopted from the Jews. It . .
was these same Coptic priests and the East-

through
ern Christians that both the Mysteries of the Children
of the Widow, and the cult of the Great Architect,
came to us in consequence of apparently unforeseen
events, and it will be seen that it was principally by
means of the Crusades that they obtained a secure
footing in the West. The Mysteries maintained their
existence under the name of the cult of the Great
The Origin and
History of Freemasonry 147
Architect of the Universe, a name that has its
origin
in the
allegory of Hiram, which represented, in the
Mysteries, 'the unknown God/ the Eternal. The
. .
long time that elapsed during the war of the Cru-

sades gave them the
opportunity of being admitted into
all the
Mysteries of the Children of the Widow.
The Crusaders who had been admitted to the mys-
teries of the Children of the Widow and initiated
therein, imparted them, on their return home, to their
pupils in Europe." (Quoted in Hidden Sources
of
Masonry, p. 37.)
The secret teaching is supposed to have passed

from the Templars to the Freemasons. Eclert traces
the connection of the Manicheans with the Johannes-
Bruder of the West, and links them also to the Ger-
man Building Corporations and Societies.
The Manicheans were known at different ages un-
der different names.After the death of the founder
there was a fusion of the Order with some of the
leading Christian Gnostic sects, thus was further in-
termingled the two rich streams of Divine Wisdom:
one coming from Egypt through Palestine, the other
from India through Persia. The name of the ex-
ternal form, which preserved the secret science through
the ages, was ever changing, so we are not surprised
to find one tradition tracing Freemasonry to the Gno-
stic Brotherhood of St. John, and it might equally as
well be ascribed to the Albigenses, Johannite Chris-

tians, Troubadours, and a host of others, for all
were possessors of the same mystic tradition, and
transmitted their knowledge from age to age. When
persecuted under one name they veiled their mys-
teries under another.
The Cologne Record, which is dated 1535, bears

witness that a secret society existed before 1440, un-
der the name of the Brotherhood of St. John, and
since then and up to 1535 under the title of St.
John's Order of Freemasonry or Masonic Brother-
hood. This Record contains the following passage:
"The Brotherhood, or the Order of Freemason
Brothers, bound together according to St. John's holy
rules traces its origin neither from the Templars nor
;
from any other spiritual or temporal Knightly Or-

der, but it is older than all similar Orders, and has
existed in Palestine and Greece, as well as in various
parts of the Roman Empire. Before the Crusades
our Brotherhood arose at a time when in consequence
;
of the strife between the sects teaching Christian

morals, a small number of the Initiated entrusted
with the true teaching of virtue, and the sensible ex-
position of the secret teaching separated themselves
from the mass." Of course, the authenticity of this
Record is rejected by materialistic Masons, but is
usually accepted as genuine by all Mystic Masons.

Mr. Mackensie points out that the Record is referred
to in the register of the Lodge at Hague, as there in
existence, so, if it is a fraud, it is one of at least two
centuries standing. The mystic teaching of the
Brotherhood of John must have been the same
St.
as that of the other mystic Orders, and the value
of this Recrd is in the testimony it bears to the known
existence of this| secret teaching; whether Masonry
received it from the Templars or from some older
organization is not important.
Some contend that until the revival, in 1717, the
mysteries of the craft were merely the peculiar meth-

ods or rules employed in their special art. This may

be partly true of the body as a whole, but that an inner
occult teaching existed is quite evident. Gen. Pike
says that "Among Freemasons of a certain class and
limited in number, the same symbolism or a large
part of the same, as afterwards placed in the de-

grees, did exist long before, perhaps some centuries
before 1717." If they possessed the symbols they must
have had a knowledge, in part at least, of their mean-
ing. Again Gen. Pike says, "The art of building
then stood above all other arts and made all others
subservient to it. It commanded the services of the
most intellects and of the greatest artists.
brilliant
The oldsymbolism was embodied in the churches
and cathedrals, and some of these were adorned with
figures and devices which would never have been tol-
erated there if the priesthood had known what they
;r,eant to the Adepts." This proves their possession
of occult knowledge.
Mr. Findel sums up the opinions of the leading

Freemasons of Germany as follows: "The Grand
that in the Build-
Lodge of Germany further assumes,
ing Fraternities of the Middle Ages,
besides their
art, a secret science was carried on, the substratum

of which was a real Christian Mystery, serving as a
school and stepping stone
preparatory or elementary
to that and the St. John's Masonry, which latter was
not a mere system of moral philosophy, but closely
allied and connected with this mystery. It was con-
ceded, that the Freemasonry of our days, (St. John's

Freemasonry), sprang from the Building Fraternities
of the Middle Ages, but at the same time as-
serted that in the early ages there existed a secret
societywhich strove to compass the perfecting of the

human race, precisely in the same manner, and em-
ploying similar means, as did the Swedish system,

which in fact only followed in the wake of its pre-
decessor, being concealed in the Building Fraternities,
so that our society did not arise from them, but made
itself a way through them. The secret science, the
mystery, was very This mystery

ancient indeed.
formed the secret of the Higher Degrees of the
Rite, which were not merely kept hidden from the
rest of the confederation, but also from the mem-
bers of the inferior degrees of the system itself.
This mystery was fully confirmed by documents,

which the Grand Lodge of Germany had in its keeping.
.... This secret legend is the same as that of the
Carpocratians, which is that Jesus chose some of the
Apostles and confided to them a secret science, which
was transmitted afterwards to the priests of the Order
of the Knights Templars, and through them to the
Building Fraternities, down to the present Free-
masons of the Swedish Rite. . .The Swedish system
teaches that there have been men of all nations who
have worshipped God in spirit and in truth, and sur-
rounded by idolatry and superstition, have yet pre-
served their purer faith. Separate from the world,
and unknown to it, this Wisdom has been pre-
served by them and handed down as a mys-
tery. In the time of the Jews they made use
of the Essenes, in which sect Jesus was brought
up, and spent the greater part of his life.
"Having been instructed by Him in a more perfect

knowledge of Holy Things, they had, amid persecu-
tion, taught in silence that which was committed to
their keeping. At the period of the Saracens and, the

Crusades they were so greatly oppressed that they must
ultimately have sought for protection from without.
As fate, however, would have
seven of them, Sy-
it,
riac Christians,
pursued by unbelievers, near Bastrum,
were rescued by the Knights-Templars, and after-
wards taken under their protecton. When they
had lived there for a certain time they begged for
permission to dwell with the Canons or Prebendaries
of Jerusalem, as the life there led agreed better
with their own inclinations and habits. This was
accorded them, and Andreas Montebarrensis effected
a union of these Syrians with the Canons, to whom,
out of gratitude, they imparted all their science, and
so completely did they make the priests of the order
the depositories of their secrets that they kept and
handed them over to others under certain conditions.
Thus, this secret knowledge lived on in the very heart
of the Order of Knights Templars till its' abolition.
The clergy were dispersed with the persecution that
ensued, but as the secular arm did not touch them, as
it did the Knights, they managed to rescue many of
their and when the Knights sought
secret writings,
refuge in Scotland, they founded a Chapter at Aber-

deen, the first Prior of which was Petrus de Bononia.
The science was disseminated from this place, but
very cautiously, first to Italy, then to the extreme
north (Sweden and Russia?), and France." (His-
tory of Freemasonry, Findel, pp. 299-310.)
To
be sure, Mr. Findel quotes this history in a
rather skeptical way, but the claim of a secret teach-
ing is too well attested to be seriously questioned.
The Middle Ages were honey-combed with mystic
each an instrument used in keeping alive

societies,
and handing along the mystic teaching under various
disguises. If Masonry had no part in this work, it
was truly an exception to the many societies that ex-
isted from the 4th. to the i8th. centuries.
The early history of Freemasonry is very meagre,

owing perhaps to the nature of the organization. The
meetings were in 1599,
earliest records of actual lodge
but there are copies of "Old Charges" and laws dat-
ing from the I4th. century.
It does not appear from the oldest manuscript that

they used signs, tokens, and words, such as later on
were employed to secure recognition; however, such
may have been the case. There were certain secrets
which pertained to the art of building, which the mem-
bers of the Lodge were bound to keep, and it was these
trade secrets which gave to the Order its monopoly.
But in the course of time the strict regulation of the
guilds relaxed and there gradually grew up another
body of operatives, which succeeded in breaking down t
the monopoly, thus opening the way for the purely
Speculative Society.
The term Freemason, which originally meant a

worker in free stone, came later on to be applied to
all "Craftsmen who had obtained their freedom as
Masons to work in Lodges with the Fraternity after

due apprenticeship and passing as Fellow Crafts."
As early even as the oldest "Charges" persons not
operative Masons were admitted to the Order and
were designatad by the term "Accepted," to dis-
tinguish them from the working Masons, for many
of this class were attracted to Masonry by the moral
principles,and perhaps the mystic knowledge of the

Fraternity. Some of these were men of learning, and
it was this class undoubtedly that had much to do
with the reconstruction of the Order. The introduc-

tion of this "Speculative" membership; that is, those
who did not follow the trade as a means of livelihood,
proved a most fortunate thing for the preservation of
the Order at a time when the old "Charges" had
practically ceased to be influential. Had this not been
done it is doubtful if the Institution of Freemasonry
would have been in existence to-day.
Speculative Masonry existed as far back as the
oldest "Charges," but the proportion which the Spec-
ulative element bore to the Operative is not known.
From the few records we have of the i/th. century,
it would seem that at that time the great majority were
Speculative Freemasons, although some bodies were

chiefly Operative.
We learn from the old records that Apprentices
served seven years, and that being passed to Fellow
Crafts depended upon the result of an examination
as to their operative skill, and likewise the passing
of Fellow Crafts to Master Masons. Of course, this
did not apply to the honorary members. Apprentices
were members and exercised all the privileges as such,
just the same as Fellow Crafts and Masters, for at
that time the separate Masonic degrees had not come
into existence. Three grades or classes were recog-
nized, but this did not signify esoteric stages, and
we find no intimations of two or more degrees being
worked before the "revival" of 1717.
By the latter part of the I7th century Masonry in

England had begun to retrograde. The Society became
so commercial that it applied merely to selfish gain,

causing some who were more deeply interested in the
Order to realize that something must be done to pre-
vent total extinction of the Fraternity. The two
moving spirits were Dr. Anderson and Dr. Desaguliers
and at their hands the Order saw a complete change
in 1717. During that year four Lodges met in Lon-
don on June 24, and formed the premier Grand Lodge
of the World. This, however, did not include the
Masonic body at York. The York Masons remained
independent, and formed in 1725 a Grand Lodge of
their own, called the Grand Lodge of all England.
This body continued until 1790, but it never chartered
Lodges outside of England.
Dr. Anderson and Dr. Desaguliers, together with

other oldmembers chosen for their ability, were des-
ignated by the Order to formulate a new and better
method of the history, charges, regulations, etc. As
the result of their work we have the Free and Ac-
cepted Masonry, founded on the apochryphal legend
of "Hiram," and the "Symbolism of Solomon's Tem-
ple."
In the formation of degrees many of the customs

of the ancient Mysteries were adopted. The third or
Master's Degree, based upon the "Hiram" legend,
came into use about 1723, in fact, the whole degree
system was the work of the Reconstructionists.
Says Dr. Mackey, "It is now the opinion of the

best scholars, that the division of the Masonic system
into degrees was the work of the Revivalists of the
beginning of the i8th century; that before that period

there was but one degree, or rather one common plat-
form of ritualism and that was the division into Mas-

;
ters, Fellows, and Apprentices was simply a division

of ranks, there being but one Initiation for all." (Art.
Degrees, Mackey's Encyclopedia.)
W. H. Hughan says, "I have carefully perused all
the known Masonic manuscript, from the fourteenth
century down to A. D. 1717 (of which I have either

seen the originals or have certified copies), and have
not been able to find any reference to three degrees."
(Quoted in "Four Old Lodges," p. 40.)
Mr. Gould, another well known Masonic writer,

the ex-
says that there is no evidence to indicate
istence of the "Second degree, as now practiced until
after the year 1717, nor of the Third degree until the
in M. P. G. M.
year 1735." (Quoted by C. F. Francis
Address, Philadelphia, 1888, from Gould's Concise
History.}
W. J. B. MacLeod Moore, Supreme Grand Master

"ad Vitum" of the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada,
also says, "Historical investigation clearly demon-
strates that in 1717 the present system of degrees
was
Originally there was but one
unknown. de-
entirely
all the elements of the
gree of Initiation, containing
names of 'Entered Ap-
degrees now practiced the
Craft' and 'Master Mason,' being
prentice,' 'Fellow
classes of workmen, not
merely the designation of the
of degrees or steps the actual Society or Fraternity
being composed of 'Fellows ;' for in the oldest records,
constitutions not the slightest al-
and charges, there is
the le-
lusion to these separate degrees, nor any to
The four old Lodges remain-
gend of 'Hiram Abiff.'
'Pel-
in London in 1717 were composed entirely of
ing
'
(History of Freemasonry and Concordant

:
lows.'
Orders, p. 753.)
The symbolism and legends adopted by the Re-

visionistsand worked into the degrees, are chiefly
those of the Ancient Mysteries. The immediate source
from which this material was derived is not definitely
known. Many have thought that the Reconstruction-
ists derived it from the Rosicrucians and Bacon's
"New Atlantis." Mr. Hughan says that Wigston's
books on "Bacon, Shakespeare and the Rosicrucians"
and "Francis Bacon, Poet, Prophet and Philosopher,"
contain Rosicrucian and Baconic ideas, which influ-
enced the Masonic Reconstructionists of 1717. He
again says that "The New Atlantis seems to be, and
probably is, the key to the modern ritual of Free-
masonry." (Ibid, p. XXXI.}
Masonry is thoroughly Hermetic and Kabbalistic,
and the framers of these degrees were evidently Kab-
balistic and Hermetic philosophers, and well ac-
quainted with all these works and other mystic writ-

ings.
Mr. Singleton, 33d degree, Sec. M. W. Grand

Lodge, District of Columbia, says, "The Kabbalists
were the inventors of the rituals of the original de-
grees, and Kabbalistic scholars in France and Ger-
many have multiplied the degrees by elaborating upon
the 'legends' of the first three. .There was origin-
.
ally in Speculative Masonry but one ritual, which was
very simple; out of that one trunk have grown all

the branches, and the fruit from these bears the re-
semblance of Hermeticism and the Kabbalah. . .
The Third degree, the Royal Arch, and the Select of

The Origin and History of Freemasonry
157
27, are all designed to imitate the ancient Mysteries."

(Ibid, p. 105).
Mr. Moore, already quoted, says, "Some of these

riteswould appear to be derived from the Hermetic
philosophy of the German school, of which no proof
exists; but when philosophers, with others, joined the
Craft Lodges in the iyth century, they may have in-
troduced some of their Hermetic Rosicrucian symbols
into Masonry." (Ibid, p. 759).
Gen. Pike, the eminent American Masonic author-

ity, says that to "The men of intelligence who be-
longed to one of the lodges in 1717, is to be ascribed
the authorship of the third degree and the introduction
of Hermetic and other symbols into Masonry; they
formed the three degrees for the purpose of communi-
cating their doctrines, veiled by their symbols ex-
cept to those fitted to receive them, and to give
to all others trite moral explanations of them which
they could receive." The plan was worked out by these

Reconstructionists and formally approved and ac-
cepted in 1723, becoming known as the new constitu-
tion, and is the Freemasonry of to-day. (Anderson's

Constitutions, 1723).
In 1730 a work called "Masonry Dissected," ap-

peared. This purported to be a revelation of Free and
Accepted Masonry. As the result of this many spur-
ious Lodges were formed. The Grand Lodge en-
deavored to thwart this by introducing certain changes
in the pass-words, etc. These alterations caused

much dissatisfaction, and many withdrew from the
regular Lodges and formed Lodges of their own.
These seceders finally formed an independent body in
1751, and assumed the name "Ancient York Masons."

They claimed to have preserved the old forms thus
the name "Ancient," and they called the regular Grand
Lodge "Moderns."
the Both Grand Lodges were
prosperous and extended their influence even into
America, thus producing dissension not only at home

but abroad. The strife between these two Grand
Lodges continued until 1813, when a union was ef-
fected under the title of the United Grand Lodge. A
union was also effected in America, thus ending the
schism, and to constitute a regular mode of work a
union degree was adopted. The Grand Lodge of Ire-
land was formed in 1728, and the Grand Lodge of
Scotland in 1736.
There is no uniformity in the degree system in
the different countries. To the three symbolic de-
grees, others have been added from time to time, but

there has been no uniformity in their acceptance. The
Royal Arch appeared about 1740, but by whom it was
founded is not known, though it is
clearly of English
origin. There is no record of its being worked in
Chapters until 1762, when a chapter of the Royal
Arch was formed at York. It became the fourth de-
gree in the Ancient Grand Lodge system. The "Mod-
erns" did not recognize this degree or adopt it officially
until 1767. Upon the union it became a part of the
English Rite.
The Mark degree also originated about this time.
It was formerly conferred in England under Royal
Arch warrants, but later was governed by an inde-
pendent Grand Lodge of its own.
The Past Master degree is undoubtedly one of evo-
lution. It was originally worked in Craft Masonry,
being conferred on the newly elected Master when

about to be installed. This degree was finally adopted
as a separate degree by the Royal Arch
system, and
transferred from the Lodge to the Chapter.
Although
its origin is obscure, it was conferred
during the lat-
ter part of the i8th century. The Most Excellent de-
gree is also obscure in origin, but we find it also con-
ferred in the latter part of the i8th century. In many
instances the higher degrees were worked under Lodge
warrants by those interested, without interference from
the Grand Lodge. The brethren concerned came to-
gether and conferred the higher degrees. They were
at first purely side degrees, but after a time they be-
came organized independently. Royal Arch Masonry
separated from Blue Lodge Masonry, organized itself
and adopted or invented the four degrees just con-
sidered, and began an independent existence. In the
same way the Royal and Select Masters separated
themselves from the Lodge of Perfection and formed
Councils, and finally organized Grand Councils and
became also independent.
As already stated, there is no uniformity in the

different countries concerning these higher degrees.
The system in England is unknown in France and
Germany. The American system, known as the York
Rite, consists of the Craft degrees or Blue Lodge,
the Royal Arch Chapter, the Council and the Knights
Templars, and is peculiar to this country. It was
formulated by Thomas Smith Webb, who, with his
associates constructed, out of the conglomeration of
the work of the "Ancients" and "Moderns" that had
a new
previously been established in this country,
work, which Cross and others afterwards embellished.
Webb tried to show that he had adopted the true work

of the Ancient York Masons, but it is well known that
the claim is without foundation.
In concluding this chapter we will give in order

the various degrees that constitute the standard Ma-
sonic work in this country.
They are the Symbolic degrees of the Blue Lodge

Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft and Master Mason.
The Capitular degrees of the Royal Arch Chapter

Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master
and the Royal Arch.
The Cryptic degrees of the Council Royal Master,
Select Master and Super-Excellent Master.
The Chivalric degrees of the Commandry of
Knights Templars Knight of the Red Cross, Knight
Templar and Knight of Malta, and
The Philosophic degrees of the Scottish Rite sys-
tem, divided into a Lodge of Perfection, a Council
Princes of Jerusalem, a Chapter of Rose Croix, a
Council of Kadosh, a Consistory and the Supreme
Council.
The history of the Knights Templars will be con-

sidered in our next lecture, together with that of the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
LECTURE IX.
THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE

KNIGHTS TEMPLARS AND THE AN-
CIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH
RITE.
We consider the Military Order of the

will first
Knights Templars of the Crusades. This organization

was originally called the Order of the Temple, and
was founded in 1118-1119 A. D., by nine Benedictine
Monks, who resided in Monasteries at Jerusalem. The
object of the Order was the defense of the Holy Sep-
ulcher and the protection of the Christian pilgrims
who visited the sacred shrine. The holy place had
been desecrated and the Christians persecuted by
both Saracen and Turk. The Christian Monks joined
the Patriarch of Jerusalem in guarding the approach
to the city, and lived under the Benedictine rule, fight-
ing for the cause of the Church. The Patriarch as-

signed them quarters in the palace of the Latin Kings
of Jerusalem, sometimes called Solomon's Temple,
and it was this that gave the Templar name to the
Order.
The new Order rendered valiant service to the pil-
grims and others in need; their fame spread rapidly

and their ranks as rapidly increased by recruits from
the religious fraternities in Europe, members of the
French nobility, and then from all classes of society.
These recruits were organized by skillful military

leaders and before long became renowned in the art of
war. The Order was strictly a religious body and
was composed of three classes, Knights, Chaplains
and Serving Brothers. A council was held in 1128
to determine the statutes of the Order. Rules of dis-
cipline and obligations numbering seventy-two were

adopted. At a later date they were elaborated into a
more complete ritual.
In our last lecture we mentioned that the early
Templars possessed a secret The early
doctrine.
Freemasons also taught in secret, making it difficult
to trace one without mentioning the other. I need
here only to recall that the secret science had passed
along from age to age, until received by the Knights
Templars. According to the record of the German
Lodges the Templars received their mystic teaching
from certain Syriac Christians, but of what particular
doctrine, cult or order they do not state. Perhaps
they were members of the Brotherhood of St. John,
which, according to the Cologne Record, possessed a
mystic teaching or perhaps they were members of the
Johannian Christians; again, perhaps these two socie-
ties may have been of the same or a very similar or-
der. The Johannites were also called "Christians of

the East." There is a tradition that traces the secret
teaching of the Templars to the Johannites, so it is
more than probable that the Syriac Christians were
members of this Brotherhood.
This tradition, as given by Gen. Pike, states that
"There existed at that period in the East a sect of
Johannite Christians, who claimed to be the only true

Initiates into the real Mysteries of the religion of the
Origin and History of the K. T. and A. A. S. R. 153
Savior. They pretended to know the real history of
Jesus the Anointed, and, adopting in part the Jewish
traditions and the tales of the
Talmud, they held that
the facts recounted in the
Evangels are but allegories.
. . The Johannites ascribe to St. John the foun-
.
dation of their Secret Church, and the Grand Pontiffs

of the Sect assumed the title of Christos, Anointed or
Consecrated, and claimed to have succeeded one an-
other from St. John by an uninterrupted succession
of pontifical powers. He who, at the period of the
foundation of the Order of the Temple, claimed these
imaginary prerogatives, was named Theoclet." (Mor-
als and Dogma, Pike, p. 816.) Theoclet was ac-
quainted with Hugh de Payens, the founder of the
Order of the Temple, and initiated him into the Jo-
hannian Mysteries and appointed him his successor.
Now if the Brotherhood of St. John and the Jo-

hannian Christians are the same, then both the Tem-
plars and the Freemasons received their secret doc-
trine from the same order. It is claimed by some,
however, that the mystic teaching passed to the Ma-
sons from the Templars. This may or may not have
been the case, but that they were closely allied is evi-
dent from the fact that upon the destruction of the old
Templar Order many of its members took refuge with
the Freemasons.
The secret statutes of the Templars were preserved,

not only by oral tradition, but were also written, in
part at least. Dr. Prutz says, "Gervais de Beauvias
saw Orders a little book with
at one of the heads of the
the Statutes of the Order of 1128, which was shown
without thinking, and he knew that the same man had
also possessed another book about which he was very
mysterious and which he 'would not show any one

'
for all the world.' ( Geheimelehre des Templherren
Or dens, p. 45.) W. J. MacLeod Moore, 33rd degree,

in speaking of the Temple Order, says, "Their Rulers
arrogated to themselves a higher degree of knowledge
in all things, and taught in their secret conclaves,
where none but the most trusted members were ad-

mitted, that the Papal power was a false and dan-
gerous assumption of authority over the minds and
consciences of men, and that very many of the dogmas
of Rome were gross and childish superstitions. They
also cultivated and asserted more liberal views of
faith and religion than were current at the time, be-
ing well versed in the Mysteries, legends, learning

and traditions of the peoples they had come in
contact with in the East." (History of Freemasonry
and Concordant Orders, p. 765.)
The evidence that the early Templar Order pos-

sessed a secret doctrine being conclusive, we will
now return to the historical development.
The Order spread rapidly and was soon established
in every kingdom of Latin Christendom. The part
which the Templars took in the Crusades is too well
known to need reiteration, for from that time on the
history of the Templars was the history of the Cru-
sades.
When the Crusades terminated the Templars re-
turned to their numerous Preceptories in Europe, as

the Order was of no further use as a military body.
Their great wealth and power aroused the jealously
of Philip IV. of France, who coveted the possessions of
the Order, and the Pope distrusted its fidelity to the
Papacy. A bitter hatred was engendered by many
acts of insubordination against the king's

arbitrary
authority, and he set about to work their de-
struction; to this end calumnies of every description
were circulated, they were charged with heresy and
all manner of crimes. Philip enlisted the support of
Pope Clement V., who owed his papal tiara to the
King's gold or influence, and the overthrow was

brought about. The work of suppression was too heart-
less to recite. Many were cast into prison, and tor-
tured to confess crimes of which they were ignorant,
and finally were burned to death upon fagots. The
Grand Master De Molai was seized while in Paris
by special invitation of Pope Clement, cast into prison,
where he was kept seven years, and at last taken out
and burned at the stake. On May 2, 1312, Clement
issued his famous Bull transferring the estates of the
Templars, except those in Spain and Portugal, to the
Knights of St. John.
Thus perished the Order of the Temple. What
became of the thousands of Templars upon the sup-
pression of the Order is not definitely known. Some
may have joined the Order of St. John of Jerusalem,
upon which the confiscated lands of the Templars had
been conferred, and some, as already intimated, may
have taken refuge in the Guilds of Stone Masons.
Many reject this latter theory as being without

"historic foundation," but W. S. Perry, 32nd degree,
says regarding this, "We

do not question this state-
ment as it stands. History fails to record much that
actually occurs, much that subsequent ages would

gladly know. We no reason, however, for the
see
assertion, so often made of late years, that any con-

between a Chivalric Order, such as the
nection
Knights Templars, and a fraternity of Operative Ma-

sons, such as certainly existed in Mediaeval times,
isout of the range of possibility." (Ibid, p. 140.) Mr.
Perry then goes on to argue that the Guilds were

known and even employed by the Knights Templars
in the construction of their Churches, Preceptories,
and strongholds, all over Europe and the Holy Land,
and when they were despoiled they would naturally
seek protection among the body with which they had
already a certain connection.
Henry E. Manning, Cardinal Archbishop of West-

minster, says, "As far back as the I2th century, the
Lodges of the Guild enjoyed the special protection
of the Knights Templars. It is easy in this way to
understand how the symbolical allusion to Solomon and

His Temple might have passed from the Knights into
the Masonic formulary. In this way, too, might be
explained how, after the suppression of the Order of
the Temple, some of the recalcitrant Knights, main-
taining their influence over the Freemasons, would be
able to pervert what hitherto had been a harmless
ceremony an elaborate ritual that should impart
into
some of the errors of the Templars to the Initiated."
(Ibid, p. 144.)
This Catholic writer may know whereof he speaks,

as it is generally supposed that Catholic scholars have
access to certain records not accessible to others,
therefore, it is not improbable that the old Order
continued to exist within the Guilds of Stone Masons.
It is also said that when the time came that they could
safely proclaim the continuance of their Order, they
instituted the Rite of Strict Observance and proved
iheir gratitude for the protection afforded by receiv-
ing members only from the ranks of Freemasonry.

But it is also not unlikely, as pointed out by Mr.
Moore, that "Small organizations were kept up in
many places, and the hope cherished that it would
be possible to revive the Order. A great and exten-
sive organization could not wholly have lost its vital-
ity and died out without a struggle." (Ibid, p. 768.)

It is related of the Chief of the doomed Order that
before his execution he instituted what afterward
came to be called Occult, Hermetic, or Scottish Mason-
ry ; that the Order, while seeming to die, nevertheless
lived under other names, and was revealed to those
who proved themselves worthy to be trusted. Ac-
cording to these traditions the real lineal descendants
of the Old Chivalric Orders are the Scottish Rite and
the Strict Observance.
Let us consider for a moment this Rite of the Strict

Observance.
It is common with a certain class of Masonic writ-
ers to pronounce the leading spirits of the Strict Ob-
servance, dupes and charlatans. But the long list of

scholars, nobles, and officers of high standing who
have belonged to this Order must preclude any such
classification. The reason for such stigmatization is
that the members were students of Mysticism, and
believed that there is hidden in Masonry an occult and
mystic tradition which is the true history of spiritual

evolution. Many of these members of the Strict Ob-
servance also belonged to the Rosicrucians and other
alliedbodies, and all were seeking the old "Strait
Gate" and "Narrow Path" that leads to Wisdom.
One of the most striking personages of this period
is Charles Gotthelf, a nobleman, born in 1722. "He
entered the Masonic Order in 1742, when Frank-

at
fort-on-Main. In the next year he is said to have
established a Lodge at Paris, and while staying with

the French Army he became acquainted with the
heads of a Rite which pretended to be, in its higher
degrees, the continuation of the famous Order of
Knights Templars. According to his repeated decla-
rations, maintained even on his death bed, he was re-
ceived into this Order, in Paris, by Lord Kilmarnock,
Grand Master of Scotland, a Jacobite nobleman, on
which occasion Lord Clifford acted as Prior. He
was presented to a very high member of the Order, a
mysterious personage called only 'the Knight of the

Red Feather.' Perhaps this was Prince Charles Ed-
ward himself. Von Hund supposed him to be the
Supreme Grand Master of the Order, and was ap-
pointed by him coadjutor of the Seventh Province of
the Order (Germania Inferior). Hund visited Scot-
land also, where he was bidden to raise the Order in
Germany, together with the then Master of the Sev-
enth Province, de Marschall, whom he always consid-
ered his predecessor. Marschall had founded
Lodges
at Altenburg and Naumburg, but found only in the
latter men worthy of being led further, viz., to be re-
ceived into the Templar degrees." ( This is a summary
by Cooper-Oakley in "Traces of a Hidden Tradition"

of an article in the "Transactions of Logge Quator Co-
ronati" No. 2076.)
Reghellini says of Von Hund: "In 1756 the wars

had caused the Prussian
(Masonic) Lodges to be
abandoned. Baron de Hund, who had received the
High Templar's Degree in the Chapter of Clermont
at Paris, on returning to Berlin declared that he had
been raised to the dignity of Grand-Master of the

Templars by M. Marschall, who called himself the
successor of the G-'-G-'- Master Templars by uninter-
rupted transmission from the time of Jacques de
Molai; that Marschall on his death-bed had delegated
this high dignity to him, and had declared him his
successor; transmitting to him all his powers and

dignities. He did not omit to give Hund a list
of all the names of the Templar Grand Mas-

ters, which must therefore have been a curi-
ous contrast to the listof the Order of the Temple
of Paris. Hund placed himself at the head of the
German reformers; he persuaded them that his Rite
would restore Freemasonry to its ancient brilliancy
and its former splendor. His principles were
. .
altogether philosophical. He maintains that

. .
these Pontiffs are the only Priests of the True Light,

the Worshipers of God, and the disciples of the pure
doctrines of Jesus and of John." ("Traces of a Hid-
den Tradition," 82.)
In this connection we need to note one Johann Au-
gustus Starck, a teacher of Oriental languages and a
student of theology and philosophy. He had held
many public positions, among others that of inter-
preter of Oriental manuscript at the Royal Library in
Paris. Mrs. Cooper-Oakley says, "Starck held that
the mystic traditions of the Knights Templars, de-
rived by them from those still older fraternities with
whom they had come in contact in the East, were pre-
served among the clericals of that Order who had
cherished their unbroken continuity until his days, and
he announced that he was in communication with
certain Superiors, or Chiefs of the Order." (Ibid,
P. 840
R. F. Gould, a well known English authority, writ-

ing on the Strict Observance, says, "On February
1 7th, 1767, some Masons, chief amongst whom may
be mentioned Von Vegesack, Von Bohnen and Stark,
founded at Wismar
Lodge of the 'Three Lions,'
the
and attached thereto a Scots Lodge, 'Gustavus of the
Golden Hammer.' Shortly afterward they added a
hitherto unknown body, a Clerical Chapter. To
these brethren we are indebted for the historical fic-
tion [sic] that the Knights Templars were divided
into military and sacerdotal members; that the latter
all the secrets and mystic learning of the
possessed
Order; and that they had preserved a continuous ex-
istence down
to
'
the eighteenth century. Stark

claimed to be the emissary of these Clerical Templars,
asserted their and his own superiority over the
Secular Knights, and offered, on his claims being ac-
knowledged, to impart their valuable secrets to Von
Hund and his disciples. Stark (1741-1816) was a
student of Gottingen, and a very learned man, an Ori-
ental linguist of great attainments, and had held sci-
entific appointments in St. Petersburg, Paris, Wismar
and elsewhere." (History of Freemasonry, Gould, V .,
p. 104.)
Gould regards Stark as an impostor, but like many

other materialistic critics who reject the tradition, he
offers no proof of its falsity.
In reply to the criticism that the Knights Templars

could not have continued to exist for 438 years un-
known to the outside world, Stark says, "If he [Dr.
Biester] had been somewhat better acquainted with
ecclesiastical history, he would have found not only
one, but several religious bodies, which under far more
violent opposition and persecution than those en-

dured by the Knights Templars, have secretly con-
tinued to exist for a longer period than four hundred
and fifty years." (Traces of a Hidden Tradition in
Masonry, p. 86.)
This view is upheld by C. W. King, a modern writer

of note, who, speaking of the Templars, says, "Con-
sidering how widely the Order has spread. it . .
would be a mere absurdity to believe that all its tra-

ditions were swept away at one stroke by the sup-
pression of the Templars in the year 1307." (The

Gnostics and Their Remains, King, p. 399.)
Stark shows the large number of scholars in his day

who accepted the tradition. Can it be that all these
were dupes and charlatans?
We must now pass to a brief consideration of the
Order itself. Ragon, a noted Masonic writer, in
speaking of the Strict Observance, says that in Ger-

many a body was formed, "Approaching more nearly
to the true institution than the ordinary Freemasons.
The study of the Kabbalah, of the Philosophers' Stone
and of Necromancy or the invocation of spirits, occu-
pied the chiefly, because according to them all these
\
sciences formed the system and the object and end of

the ancient mysteries of which Freemasonry is the
sequel." (Quoted from Orthodoxie Maconnique, Ra-
gon, p. 210, by Mr. Cooper-Oakley in Hidden Tradi-
tion, p. 88.)
It was the higher grades of the Strict Observance

that took up the study of Alchemy, etc., there being,
according to our author just quoted, seven grades in-
to which the system wasi divided.
Much more might be said, but this is sufficient to

show that in the early days of the Modern Knights
Templars there were many who recognized the exist-
ence of the secret doctrine.
As to the origin of the Knights Templars of to-day,
and their connection with Freemasonry, various theo-
ries have been proposed. Some contend that the
movement was the result of the numerous works of
the 1 7th and i8th centuries on occult philosophy, and
that upon the dispersion of the Order of St. John and
the Templars of Scotland, the secret ceremonies and
principles were obtained and promulgated, which di-
rectly led to the revival of the Chivalric Orders under
the impression that they were of Masonic origin.
Others hold that the present Order originated from
the High Grades of Freemasonry, the Hermetic, or
Scottish system, and was grafted on to Freemasonry
by Baron Hund in 1754. Few, if any, would main-

tain to-day that the present organization of Knights
Templars is a lineal descendant of the old Chivalric
Order. The Knights Templars of the present, in
common with Masons in general, make no claim to
mystic knowledge, and but few in the Order even
know that such a Wisdom-science ever existed.
The degrees of the American system of the
Knights Templars are the Knight of the Red Cross,
Knight Templar, and Knight of Malta. The Red
Cross is not embraced in the English, Continental or
Canadian systems. The Templar degrees have been
used in connection with Freemasonry for about a cen-
tury. Says W. J. B. MacLeod Moore, "Although the
Templar degrees have been in connection with Free-
masonry for about a century past, it does not follow
that they previously had any such connection. It was
only about that time, or a few years earlier, that the

error was made in Great Britain and Ireland of add-
ing the chivalricTemplar Order to the Masonic sys-
tems." (History of Freemasonry and Concordant
Orders, p. 744.) The Templar degrees, like the other
side degrees, were first conferred under Blue Lodge
Warrants, which simply means that Masons possess-

ing those degrees came together in their Lodges and
worked them. In the course of time Chapters and
Encampments were organized, and Templarism took
on a more independent and permanent form.
We believe with Mr. Moore that it was an error to
merge the
Templar degrees into the Masonic system.
In England the Templar system has always been kept
separate from the Craft degrees. The Royal Arch is
there considered the climax of Freemasonry. There
is also a difference due to the fact that the English
degrees are based upon the old Templar ceremonies,

while the American system is based upon the craft
degrees. This makes the American system broader
and more in harmony with the spirit of Freemasonry,
although it is still partly sectarian. This sectarianism
is not in accord with the ancient landmarks and genius
of Masonry. If we have the right to Christianize
Masonry, so have Moslems, Buddhists, and all other

religious sects, a right to transform it to fit their
creeds such transformations and limitations deprive
;
Masonry of its true spirit and universal character,

and should such a process become general Masonry
itself would soon be destroyed.
The Templar system should have stood alone on its
own merits and principles. It should have been left

as a series of side degrees for Masons professing

Christian principles. The very name "Masonic Tem-
is a .misnomer the sectarian character of
plarism''
the one is not in accord with the universal character
of the other. This declaration does not cast any re-
flection upon the Templar degrees; in fact, we con-
sider them among the best and most inspiring of the
American system; however, we believe they should
have remained separated from a non-sectarian body.
"It is a mistake," to again quote Mr. Moore, "to con-
nect Templarism with Freemasonry."
Frederic Speed, 33rd degree Past R. E. Grand

Commander, Miss., is of the same opinion. He says,
"If, then, anywhere the door of any degree is closed
against him who believes in one God and the soul's
immortality, on account of other tenets of his faith,
that degree is not Freemasonry. That the Templar
degrees [properly] form no part of Masonry, we have
the declaration of the reputed author of the American
Rituals, Thomas Smith Webb, who, in 1812, and sev-

eral subsequent editions of his'Freemason's Monitor,'
says, 'Although the several orders of Knighthood are
conferred both in Europe and America, reputedly under
the sanction of Masonic assemblies,' they 'compose no
"
part of the system of Freemasonry.' He tells us
that in America they are conferred as "honorary de-
grees." Mr. Speed continues, "It is time for intelli-
gent Masons to divest themselves of the superlatively
ridiculousand often exploded idea that there is any
connection between what we now know as Templar-
ism and the Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons,
except that which is found in the restriction of its
membership to those who have first received the sev-
eral degrees of Masonry. .It . is entirely com-

patible with all the obligations of Masonry that a
Mason should be a Templar, and we do not derogate
from our standing as Masons, when we take upon our-
selves the additional vows of the Knights Templars;
but this does not make Templarism Masonry, nor do
we add anything; to the dignity and high character of
the Order by making the assertion that it is." (Ibid,
P- 735-)
ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite or Scot-

tish Masonry did not originate in Scotland, as its
name might lead one to suppose. It was derived from
a body in France, formerly known as "The Emperors
of the East and West," who organized in 1758, in
Paris, a Rite called "The Rite of Perfection," con-
sisting of twenty-five degrees, to which eight or more
were subsequently added.
The immediate source from which the French Ma-
sons derived these Rites is unknown, but it is held by
some that they are the lineal descendants of the an-
cientOrder of the Temple. Before the death of
Grand Master Jacques de Molai, and while he was in
prison awaiting execution, he instituted several Metro-
politan Lodges, one of which was at Paris, and it was
from this source that Scottish Masonry was derived.
Gen. Pike, the great authority on the Scottish Rite,
accepts this view. The name itself is supposed to
have come from a number of Scottish Masons who
were in France at the time of the organization.
A
Grand Lodge was formed at Charleston, South
Carolina, in 1783, a Supreme Council, 33rd degree, in
1801 and the Rite has been called by its present name,
;
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, since that date.

The Rite is founded on the Symbolic degrees, and
is conferred only on Master Masons. Its degrees be-
gin with the 4th and extend to the 33rd. They are
conferred in subordinate bodies as follows: The
Lodge of Perfection 4th to I4th inclusive; the Coun-
cilof Princes of Jerusalem i5th and i6th; the Chap-
ter of Rose Croix I7th and i8th; the Consistory of
Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret iQth to 32nd
except in the Southern Jurisdiction where the iQth. to
3Oth. degrees constitute a Council of Kadosh and their
Consistory begins with the 3ist. degree; and the Su-
preme Council, whose officers are Active 33rd. de-
gree Masons. There is also an Honorary 33rd. degree
conferred by the Supreme Council as a merit for dis-
tinguished service in the Fraternity.
The moral teaching of these degrees is exemplary
and the dramatic effect of the work is beyond com-
parison. We have neither time nor space to consider
the system in detail, but there are certain teachings
connected with some of the degrees to which your
special attention is directed. We refer to those
which, by some, are thought to be sectarian in charac-
ter, and therefore opposed to the original plan of the
Reconstructionists to lay a broad foundation for the
ceremonies which would admit men of all
religions.
It is to be regretted that such a
cosmopolitan basis
could not have been maintained.
We
need to remember, however, that
Masonry is
symbolic and the legends, even of the so-called sec-
tarian degrees, are symbols used to set forth an inner
truth, and are not in themselves
necessarily sectarian,
Origin and History of the K. T. and A.A.S.R. 177
even when appropriated by a special religion, for they

are essentially universal, and belong to general re-
ligion.
To illustrate more fully, Dr. Mackey, in speaking

of the Cryptic degrees, which are based upon the le-
gend of the Sacred Vault, says, "To support this le-
gend there is no historic evidence and no authority
except that of the Talmudic writers. It is clearly a
mythical symbol, and as such we must accept it.
. . .Like every other myth and allegory of Ma-

sonry, the historical relation may be true, or it may
be false it may be founded on fact, or be the inven-
;
tion of imagination; the lesson is still there, and the
symbolism teaches it, exclusive of the history." (En-

cyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 852.)
Gen. Pike also emphasizes this principle. In speak-
ing of the legend upon which the degree of the Royal
Arch is based, he says, "It is of but little importance
whether it is in anywise historical. For its value con-
sists in the lessons which it inculcates, and the duties
which it prescribes to those who receive it. The par-

ables and allegories of the Scriptures are not less valu-
able than history. Nay, they are more so, because
ancient history is little instructive, and truths are con-
cealed in and symbolized by the legend and the Myth."
(Morals and Dogma, p. 210.)
We should bear this fact in mind when we con-
sider the degrees of the Scottish Rite, especially that
of the Rose Croix. The legend upon which this de-
gree is based is purely symbolical, and as such con-
veys a grand truth. Some, however, have thought
that the doctrine of this degree excluded the non-
Christian, which shows how the purpose of Masonry
has been misunderstood.
Gen. Pike, in speaking of the degree, says, "No

Mason has the right to interpret the symbols of this
degree for another, or to refuse him its mysteries, if
he will not take them with the explanation and com-
mentary superadded." Again he says, "Each of us
makes such applications to his own faith and creed
of the symbols and ceremonies of this degree, as seems
to him proper." (Morals and Dogma, Ch. XVIII.)
This is well said. Every intelligent Mason should
make a protest against the crude and antiquated ex-
planations of the symbols given in this degree. The
degree itself is not necessarily sectarian, but the ex-
planations adopted in the work are not only sectarian
and un-Masonic, but they belong to a system of things
which intelligent people are fast leaving behind.
Let me briefly summarize the explanation given by

the authority just quoted. The cross has been a sa-
cred symbol from the earliest antiquity. It is found
upon all the enduring monuments of the world,
in Egypt, Assyria, India, Persia, Mexico, etc. Its
peculiar meaning in this degree is that given to it by
the ancient Egyptian Thoth or Phtha, who is repre-
sented on the oldest monuments carrying in his hand
the Crux Ansata, a tau cross with a ring over it.
This was the hieroglyph for life, and with a triangle
prefixed meant life-giving. To us, therefore, it is
the symbol of life, of that life from

that emanates
Deity and of that Eternal lifewhich we hope.
for
The Rose was anciently sacred to Aurora and the
Sun. It is a symbol of dawn, of the resurrection,
Light, and the renewal of Life. The Cross and Rose
together signify hieroglyphically, the Dawn of Eter-
nal Life and the advent of a Saviour for which all
nations hope. To the letters "I. N. R. I." inscribed

on the Crux Ansata, many meanings have been as-
signed. The Christian sees in them the initials of the
inscription upon the Cross of Christ IESUE NAZARE-
MUS REX IUDEORUM. The Sages of
antiquity con-
nected it with one of the greatest secrets of nature,
that of universal regeneration. They interpreted it
thus IGNE NATURA RENOVATUR INTEGRA Nature is
:
renovated by fire. The Alchemists and Hermetic Ma-

sons framed for it this aphorism, IGNE NITRUM RORIS
INVENITUR. The letters are initials of the Hebrew
words that represent the four elements IAMMIM, the
sea or water; NOUR, fire; ROUACH, the air; IEBE-
SCHAH, the earth. (Ibid, Ch. XVIII.)
This degree symbolized the final triumph of truth
over falsehood, of life over death, of good over evil.
"No one Mason has a right to measure for another
within the walls of a Masonic Temple, the degree of
veneration which he shall feel for any Reformer, or
Founder of any Religion. We teach a belief in no par-
ticular creed as we teach unbelief in none." (Ibid, p.
308.) But we recognize in the Founder of the Christian
religion, an Initiate into the True Mysteries ;
one who
came to rebuild again the eternal verities, to utter again
the Divine Wisdom to a needy world. The Knight of
the Rose Croix will revere his memory, and honor him
as one of the true servants of the Most High. We
recognize all Initiates as Brothers. We belong to no
creed. We invite men of all religions to enlist under
our banner and work to bring in a better day.
Dr. Mackey says, "If Masonry were simply a Chris-
tian institution, the Jew and the Moslem, the Brahmin
and the Buddhist, could not conscientiously partake
Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry
of its illumination; but its universality is its boast.
In its language citizens of every nation may converse ;
at its altar men of all religions may kneel ; to its creed
disciples of every faith may subscribe." (The Sym-

bolism of Freemasonry, Mackey, p. 237.)
We have dwelt upon this degree because of the

principle involved. The legends upon which this de-
gree is based, while drawn from the New Testament,
are also to be found in many other world Scriptures,
for the symbolism, of which the real meaning has been
shown in is universal.
earlier lectures, The degree
itself is really out of place in the Scottish Rite sys-
tem; it should belong in the Templar system, if any-
where.
again quote Gen. Pike, "We teach the truth of

To
none of the legends we recite. They are to us but
parables and allegories, involving and enveloping Ma-
sonic instruction; the vehicles of useful and interest-
information. Every one being at liberty to apply
. .
our symbols and emblems as he thinks most consistent

with truth and reason and with his own faith."
(Morals and Dogma, p. 329.) Let every Scottish
Rite Mason bear mind; and it would be
this fact in
well for the Knight Templar to remember this also,
for there we have the same symbols and the same
crude interpretation of them. These symbols, as we
have seen, refer to realities in the divine life of Jesus,
rather than to the incidents in his physical experi-
ences.
In the early days of the Scottish Rite the system
was full of grotesque and incongruous things, of con-
tradictionsand fantastic extravagances. The Su-

preme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the
United Statesat length undertook the task of revising
the work of
the thirty degrees under its jurisdiction,
but while this was done with considerable success
there are still anachronisms and contradictions which
should be eliminated to make the system harmonious.
The moral teaching of all the Rites is excellent.
One who lives up to the standard inculcated in the
Scottish Rite degrees will fulfil every demand made
by the strictest code of morality.
LECTURE X.
THE SYMBOLS AND LEGENDS OF
MASONRY.
The real secrets of Masonry lie concealed in its
symbols and legends.

These symbols and legends are the means by which
the divine truths of Masonry are conveyed to the neo-
in the An-
phyte. This was the method of instruction
cient Mysteries, and it was naturally adopted in the
institution of Freemasonry. "To form symbols and
to interpret them," says Creuzer, "were the main oc-
cupations of the ancient priesthood," and the myths
were invented to illustrate a philosophic or religious
truth.
Dr. Mackey, after discussing the question of myths,

says, "It must be evident, from all that has been said
respecting the analogy in origin and design between
the Masonic and the ancient religious myths, that no
one acquainted with the true science of this subject
can, for a moment, contend that all the legends and
traditions of the order are, to the very letter, histor-
ical facts." (Symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey, p.
207.) He gives as an illustration of this the myth

of the Winding Stairs, which, he says, "taken in its
literal sense, is, in all its parts, opposed to history and

probability."
Again, he calls attention to the myth which traces

the origin of Freemasonry to the beginning of the
The Symbols and Legends of Masonry 183
world, "A myth, which is," he says, "even to this day,

ignorantly interpreted, by some, as an historical fact,
and the reference to which is still preserved in the
date of 'anno lucis/ which is affixed to all masonic
documents." This he calls a
"philosophical myth,
symbolizing the idea which analogically connects the
creation of physical light in the universe with the
birth of masonic or spiritual and intellectual light in
the candidate. The one is the type of the other."
(Ibid, p. 211.) In the legends of the Master's De-
gree and of the Royal Arch he points out that there
is a commingling of the historical myth and the myth-
ical history so that much care must be taken in dis-
criminating between the different elements.
Dr. Mackey then sums up the duty of a Mason as
follows, "He who desires properly to appreciate the
profound wisdom of the institution of which he is the
disciple, must not be content, with uninquiring cred-

ulity, to accept all the traditions that are imparted to
him as veritable histories nor yet, with unphilosophic
;
incredulity, to reject them in a mass, as fabulous in-

ventions. In these extremes there is equal error.
'The myth/ says Hermann, 'is the representation of
an idea.' It is for that idea that the student must
search in the myths of Masonry. Beneath every one
of them there is something richer and more spirit-
ual than the mere narrative.
Every one, . .
therefore, who desires to be a skillful Mason, must

not suppose that the task is accomplished by a perfect
knowledge of the mere phraseology of the ritual, by a
readiness in opening and closing a lodge, nor by an
off-hand capacity to confer degrees. All these are
good in their places, but without the internal mean-

ing they are but mere child's play. He must study the
myths, the traditions, and the symbols of the order,
and learn their true interpretation ;
for this alone con-
and the philosophy
stitutes the science the end, aim,
and design of Speculative Masonry." (Ibid, p. 212,
214.)
These deeper things, as Dr. Mackey intimates, are
not found in the monitorial explanations. J. D. Buck,
a 32nd degree Mason, in his wonderful book on Mys-
tic Masonry, says, "The most profound secrets of
Masonry are not revealed in the Lodge at all. They
belong only to the few. But these secrets must
. .
be sought by the individual himself, and the candidate

is debarred from possessing them solely by his own
inattention to the hints everywhere given in the ritual

of the Lodge, or by his indifference to the subject If
he prefers to treat the whole subject with contempt,
and to deny that any such real knowedge exists, it
becomes evident that he not only closes the door
against the possibility of himself possessing such
knowledge, but he also becomes impervious to any

evidence of its existence that might come to him at
any time. He has no one but himself to blame if he

is left in darkness." (Mystic Masonry, Buck, p.
XXXVI.)
The ritual and monitorial lessons of the Lodge
teach nothing new, and the explanations of the sym-
bols are often puerile and inadequate. Gen. Pike
says, "There is no sight under the sun more pitiful
and ludicrous at once, than the spectacle of the Pres-
tons and the Webbs, not to mention the later incar-
nations of Dullness and Commoplace, undertaking
to 'explain' the old symbols of Masonry, and adding to
and 'improving' them, or inventing new ones. To the

Circle enclosing the central point, and itself traced be-
tween two parallel lines, a figure purely Kabbalistic;
these persons have added the super-imposed Bible, and
even reared on that the ladder with three or nine
rounds and then given a vapid interpretation of the
whole, so profoundly absurd as actually to excite ad-
miration." (Morals and Dogma, Pike, p. 105.)
The exegesis is also often crude. This is not
strange, as the ritual was written before the days of
modern Biblical scholarship, and perhaps it would be
well if the ritual were revised. These immature con-
ceptions could be eliminated without affecting the
meaning and beauty of the ceremonies. However, if
we bear in mind that Masonry does not indorse its
legends as literal facts, no harm can be done.
We will now consider some of the symbols and
myths of the Fraternity.
THE LODGE.
The Lodge represents King Solomon's Temple.

The temple is a symbolic image of the universe, and
as such is parts and arrangements,
symbolic in all its
therefore, the temple of Solomon resembles all the

temples of antiquity that practiced the Mysteries.
The Hebrews, like other peoples, made much of the
system of numbers to convey their hidden meaning.
The Holy of Holies formed a cube, corresponding to
the number four, which represents manifested nature,
while the three sides or faces of the figure, when
drawn on a plane surface, represented the Deity, the
three aspects of Will, Wisdom and Activity (Intelli-
gence). Everything within the temple was symbolic-
ally arranged. The ceiling, supported by twelve col-

umns, represented the twelve months of the year; the
borders around the columns and the candlestick with
the twelve lights represented the twelve signs of the
zodiac ; the seven lights, the seven planets the veils of
;
four colors represented the four elements, etc. In the

Royal Arch Degree of the American Rite, the Tab-
ernacle has four veils of different colors, to each of
which belongs a banner and on each banner is in-
scribed one of the four images the Bull, the Lion,
;
the Man, the Eagle. These constellations answered

to the equatorial and solstitial points of 2500 years
B. C. The four signs Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and
Aquarius, were termed the fixed signs, and are as-
signed to the four veils. The Sun entered Taurus at
the vernal equinox, Leo at the Summer solstice, Scor-
pio at the autumnal equinox (for which, on account

of malignant influence, Aquilla, the eagle was sub-
its
stituted), and Aquarius at the winter solstice-
Every temple was a representation of the universe,

and in them the great lights of Nature played an im-
portant part. The images, of the Sun, Moon, and
Mercury were represented, and even in our Lodge
rooms they constitute the three lights, except that for
Mercury the Master of the Lodge has been substi-
tuted. Eusebius tells us that the
officers of the Eleu-
sinian Mysteries were the Hierophant, representing
the Great Architect of the Universe the torch-bearer,
;
representing the Sun; the altar-bearer, representing

the Moon; and the sacred herald,
representing Mer-
cury. The latter was charged with excluding the pro-
fane from the Mysteries.
Every Lodge, as we have said, represents the Tern-

pie. The two great columns between which you pass

as you enter the Lodge represent the two great pil-
lars, 30 feet 8 inches high; 6 feet 10 inches in diam-
eter, which stood in the porch of the temple on either

side of the Eastern gateway. These columns repre-
sent the two pillars of Hercules, the solstices, Cap-
ricorn and Cancer, the two gates of heaven, and
were imitations by the Tyrian artist of the columns at
the entrance of the temple of Malkarth in Tyre.
The Lodge is said to be due east and west as King

Solomon's Temple was so situated. All the temples
of Antiquity were usually thus built. Pythagoras also
arranged his assemblies due east and west because he
held that motion began in the east and proceeded west.
The Egyptian and Mexican Pyramids were also built
to the four cardinal points of the compass, while be-
neath the Temple, extending east and west, was a
subterranean cavern used for Initiation. No well-
equipped Lodge is lacking in this particular.
THE FURNISHING OF THE LODGE.
The Holy Bible, Square and Compasses, together

with a Charter or Dispensation, constitute the furnish-
ings of the Lodge.
(i) The Holy Bible. This in a Christian Lodge

consists of the Old and New Testaments; a Hebrew
Lodge would use Old Testament only; a Moham-
the
medan Lodge, Koran in like manner a Buddhist
the ;
Lodge could use the Tripitaka, a Hindu Lodge the

Vedas, etc. The obligation of the candidate is always
taken on the Sacred Book of his religion, for his Holy
Bible is his Light, in accordance with which he should
live and walk.
(2) The Square and Compasses. These symbols

are perhaps the most familiar to the general public of
any inMasonry. I need not dwell on the lessons in

morality which the square and compasses teach. Ma-
sonry is, however, something more than a system of
morality, and it is this inner significance that I have
endeavored to set forth.
There a science and philosophy concealed in these

is
symbols which Dr. Buck explains as follows: "The

Square with its one right angle and its scale of meas-
urements applies to surfaces and solids, and deals
with the apparently fixed states of matter. It repre-
sents solidarity,symmetry and proportion and this in- ;
volves the sciences of arithmetic and geometry. The

Compasses with moveable angle set in the Lodge at an
angle of 60 degrees, applies to the circle and the
sphere; to movements and revolutions. In a general
sense, the square is a symbol of matter and the earth ;
the Compasses of Spirit and the heavens." (Mystic

Masonry, Buck, p. 242.)
The position of the Square and Compasses indicates

the progress of the candidate from Entered Appren-
tice to that of Master Mason.
THE ORNAMENTS.
The Ornaments of a Lodge are the Mosaic Pave-
ment, the Indented Tessel, and the Blazing Star.
The Mosaic Pavement is supposed to
represent the
ground floor of
King Solomon's Temple the Indented;
Tessel, the border or skirting surrounding it. There

is no evidence that either existed in the ancient tem-
ple, but the symbol is significant as it denotes the

checkered course of life, also the two opposing prin-
ciples in Nature, Light and Darkness, Michael and

Satan, Balder and Loki, Ormuzd and Ahriman, etc.
The Blazing Star also represents these two princi-
ples. If the pointturned upward it represents God,
is
Good, Order, or the Lamb of Ormuzd and St. John;

if the point is turned downward it denotes Lucifer,
Evil, Disorder, or the accursed Goat of Mendes and

the Mysteries. The Blazing
Star or Pentagram also
represents the human body,
the five points repre-
senting the four limbs and head. It is thus called the
sign of the Microcosm. All the Mysteries of Magic

were said to be summed up in this symbol. Paracel-
sus pronounces it the greatest and most potent of all
signs.
THE ALL SEEING EYE.
This symbol, in the Ancient Mysteries, indicated the

sight that annuls time and space. This is the symbol
of the higher clairvoyance. The Master always pos-
sessed this sight. In India this All Seeing Eye was
called the Eye of Siva. The Egyptians represented
Osiris by the symbol of an openeye, and placed this
hieroglyphic of him in all their temples. In the Lodge
the All Seeing Eye represents the Omniscence of God,
The Eye that never sleeps. It may also represent,
as in the Ancient Mysteries, the higher vison.
THE LETTER G.
This letter is the natural symbol among English-

speaking people for God. It is a substitute in Ameri-
can Lodges for the Hebrew Yod, which is the Kab-
balistic symbol for unity. In France the letter Yod
is put in the Blazing Star.
THE CLASPED HANDS.

This symbol was used by Pythagoras and repre-
number ten the number expressed
sented the sacred
by the mysterious Tetractys. This figure was repre-
sented in the form of the triangle. The Hebrews
formed it with the letters of the Divine Name. Both
Pythagoras and the Hebrew priests borrowed the fig-
ure from the sacred science of Egypt.
THE TRIANGLE AND DOUBLE TRIANGLE.

All the nations of antiquity considered the triangle
as sacred. It was one of the most common symbols
for the Deity. The three sides typify the three as-
pects of God Will, Wisdom and Intelligence. Here

we have the Trinity in Unity.
The double triangle interlaced, symbolizes the mani-

fested universe the union of spirit and matter. The
triangle pointing upward is spirit or fire ; the one point-
ing downward is matter or water. One represents
the descent of spirit into matter, the other the ascent
of matter to spirit. The union of the two, in the
manifested universe, is inseparable. This double tri-
angle is used in India to symbolize two Hindu Gods,
or rather the two aspects of Ishvara Siva and Vish-
nu. It also represents the six points, the senary,
which with the point in the center is the septinary.
THE LIGHT.
There are three greater and three lesser lights in

Masonry, and though the ritual does not give any ex-
planation of these symbols, there is an important
meaning connected with them. The Sun is an ancient
symbol of the Logos it signifies the male aspect, the
life-giving and generative power. God is the source

of light, and light is the cause of life. The Moon rep-
resents the passive, or female aspect of Nature.
JACOB'S LADDER.
The mystical ladder which Jacob in his vision saw,
extending from earth to heaven, was a common sym-
bol in the Ancient Mysteries, and was always com-
posed of seven steps or rounds. The ladder symbol-

ized the progress of man from his present to higher
conditions each round representing one of the seven
stages of his evolutionary progress. In the Mysteries
of Persia and India this mystic ladder was an impor-
tant symbol, especially in the former, where a ladder
of seven rounds was erected in each of their temples.
The seven steps also correspond to the seven gates
through which the candidate was passed successively
in his journeyings through the seven caverns of Initi-
ation, and symbolized the seven conditions or sub-

planes of Hades. The seven steps, seven gates, seven
halls,seven worlds, seven planes, etc., are all symbols
of the various stages of the soul's progress.
The ancient Initiates held that the evolution of the
human soul took place through a series of seven
globes
situated on the three lower planes of the universe.
The life wave passes seven times round this world-
chain, and through seven stages on each globe. The
progress involves a downward and an upward arc
a descent of spirit into matter and a re-ascent of spirit
to God. This is symbolized in Jacob's vision by the
angels ascending and descending.
sometimes misrepresented with three
Jacob's ladder is
or nine rounds; it should have seven. Dr. Mackey

says that "The error arose from the ignorance

of those
inventors who first engraved the masonic symbols for
our monitors. The ladder of Masonry, like the equi-
pollent ladders of kindred institutions, always had

its
seven steps, although in modern times the three prin-

cipal or upper ones are alone alluded to. These
rounds, beginning at the lowest, are Temperance, For-
titude, Prudence, Justice, Faith, Hope, and Charity."
(The Symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey, p. 120.)
The application of these virtues, however, is a later
addition to symbolism.
The seven rounds are also emblematical of the seven
planes of the universe physical, astral, mental

buddhic, atmic, anupadika and adi; the seven ancient
elements earth, water, fire, air, ether, and two un-
named; the seven subplanes of the astral world
astral solid, liquid, gaseous, etheric, super-etheric, sub-
atomic, and atomic; the seven metals lead, quick-

silver, copper, tin, and gold; the seven
iron, silver,
colors black, purple, green, blue, red, white, and yel-
low; the seven stones diamond, amethyst, emerald,
sapphire, ruby, pearl, and topaz; the seven ancient
planets Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Luna
and Sol. Thus the seven-stepped ladder had various
and correspondences. Its presence in the
applications
Masonic institutions is evidence of the close analogy
between Freemasonry and the Ancient Mysteries.
THE RIGHT ANGLED TRIANGLE,

OR THE 47TH PROBLEM OF EUCLID.
This is one of the most important symbols of an-

tiquity. The perpendicular line, whose measurement
is 3, represents the active, male principle; the base
line, whose measurement is 4, represents the passive,

female principle; and their union, or the addition of
the squares of these numbers, will produce a square
whose root will be the hypotheneuse, a line meas-
ured by 5 and representing the universe. The square
of the perpendicular and base, 9+16=25, the square
root of which is 5, the number of the hypotheneuse.
It was taught in all the Mysteries that the union of
the male and female principles of Nature produced
the universe. This is the occult meaning of the 47th
problem of Euclid the sum of the squares of the per-
pendicular and base of a right angle triangle equals
the square of the hypotheneuse. This is a symbol of
perfect proportion between number and forms; be-
tween spirit and matter.
The three sides of the triangle bear the proportions,
as we have seen, of 3, 4, and 5, and $-}-=$*, or
9+16=25; also 9+16+25=50. Thus the number
50 is based on the proportion of the sides of the right
angled triangle.
Philo speaks of two series, which he calls triangles
and squares; namely, i, 3, 6, 10 and i, 4, 9, 16. With

regard to the triangle series i, 3, 6, 10, it is interest-
ing to note that 1=1 3=1+2; ; 6=1+2+3; and

10=1+2+3+4. In the square series,
16; i, 4, 9,
a 2
i=i 4=2 9=3'; and 16=4' 1+3+6+10=20;
; ; ;
and 1+4+9+16=30; and 20+30=50; 50 was a sa-

cred number, and was derived from the right angled
triangle. The greatest Jewish festival (Jubilee) took
place every fifty years.
THE LAMB-SKIN OR WHITE LEATHER APRON.
In the Ancient Mysteries the investiture of the
Apron formed an essential part of the ceremony of
Initiation. The Apron and White Robe were symbols

of purity. In Persia the investiture was exceedingly
imposing. The candidate having taken the oath of
secrecy, was given the insignia of the Order the
Girdle, the Tiara, the White Apron and the Purple
Tunic. The Japanese candidate was also clothed in
certain Garments which consisted of a Loose Tunic and
White Apron bound round the loins with a girdle. In
the degree of holiness practiced by the Pharisees the
"noviciate" was also given an Apron as a symbol of
purity. The Essenes and Druids invested their can-
didates with a White Robe, and the Scandinavians gave
the candidate a White Shield. In all these ceremonies
whatever the material or form, the symbolic signifi-
cance was always the same. The White Apron of
Masonry was derived from these ancient ceremonies,
and one of the most significant symbols in our Or-
is
der; the color "White" having been an emblem of

Light and Purity from time immemorial.
The shape and combination of the Masonic Apron
is that of a triangle overlapping a square, represent-
ing the occult septenary nature of man. The triangle
symbolizes spirit, or the three highest principles; the
square or quaternary the four lowest. Each prin-
ciple is correlated to a plane, a round and a race. The
spiritual triad is the spiritual body of St. Paul, and
the quaternary the natural
body. The triad, which is
the immortal part of man, contains potentially all the
powers of Divinity; and to develop these latent attri-
butes it must descend into matter the
triangle must
incarnate in the square. This is represented in
Masonry
by the degree of Entered Apprentice, and is symbol-
ized by the way in which the
Apprentice is taught to
wear his Apron. The spiritual is subordinate to the

material earthly desires and passions rule supreme.
But the candidate is here to learn to subdue his pas-
sions; his partial success is represented by the degree
of Fellow Craft, and is symbolized by the way he
wears his Apron in that degree. The complete tri-
umph of the spiritual is represented by the Master

Mason degree, and is again indicated by the Apron.
This state was represented in the Ancient Mysteries
by the mystical death and resurrection of the candi-
date. The perfected Initiate has mastered his lower
nature and has become the Perfect Man, Hermes,
Buddha, or Christ.
The symbolism of the Apron is indeed far reaching.
Let every Mason remember how he impersonated
the Grand Master. He should never forget its deep
significance.In the Ancient Mysteries the candidate
did not merely impersonate the Master, he himself
became the Master the ceremony merely symboliz-
ing what he became. It is a mistake to suppose, as
some writers have, that the candidate m the mystic
rites was merely representing the events connected
with the tragedy of the Master or God from whom
the Mysteres derived their name. The story of the
Master or God was wholly an allegory of the experi-
ences of the Initiate, while the rites were but typical
of the various stages in the growth of the soul. In
the process of becoming a Christ he represents all
those who have attained the Christ state, for all mas-
ters have passed through the experiences symbolized
by the Myth.
Masonry has a truer conception than any exoteric
religion, for these religions take the symbol for the

thing symbolized, but Masonry, in making the candi-

date impersonate Hiram, has preserved the original
teaching. Hiram is identical with the Sun-Gods of
all nations it is a universal glyph, for all real Initia-
tion an internal process, a regeneration, the con-

is
summation of which is the Perfect Man or Master,

the goal of human evolution.
In the Ancient Mysteries there was a further Rite

which symbolized the next stage, that of union with
the Divine, the At-One-Ment. This was the Ascen-
sion, and is symbolized by the square enclosed in the
triangle. The lower nature is here refined and "as-

cends to the Father." God is All in All.
As we have already said, each principle in man's

constitution is correlated to a plane. A
knowledge
of these planes would enable a man by a trained will
to direct the forces on each plane. Such is the power
of a real Master.
LECTURE XI.
THE SYMBOLS AND LEGENDS OF MASONRY
(Continued.)
In this concluding lecture of the series, we will
consider the remaining important symbols and legends
of Masonry.
SACRED OR INEFFABLE NAME.

This symbol was universal in ancient times, for
every nation of antiquity had its Sacred Name or

Ineffable Word. The Hebrew symbol consists of
four Yod, He, Van, He, and is called the
letters,
Tetragrammaton, or four lettered word. This word

was said to have been communicated by God to Moses
at the burning bush. The name was held most sacred
by the Jews, but its meaning and proper pronuncia-
tion has long been obscured.
Before the invention of the masoretic points the

pronunciation of a word in the Hebrew language
could not be known by the characters themselves, so
it was easy in the course of time to lose the proper
pronunciation. Especially so, as at the beginning of
the Hellenistic age the use of the name was reserved
for the temple. At the beginning of the Christian
era, Philo writes, "The four letters may be men-
tioned or heard only by holy men whose ears and
tongues are prepared by wisdom,, and by no others in
any place whatsoever." In the course of time the
pronunciation of the name, even by the temple priests,

fell into disuse, and the manner of its pronunciation
at length became a secret entrusted only to the few.

While the word was being withdrawn from common
use, it was pronounced "Adonai" in the scriptures,
and when the vowel points were introduced those
that belonged to Adonai were placed under the Tetra-
grammaton.
The word itself is a symbol; the letters are prob-

ably arranged as a blind. As they stand in the Tetra-
grammaton they have no significance. They do not
represent any real Hebrew word. Now if we apply
the Hebrew method of halving or transposing letters
which was used to conceal the meaning of a word, or
rather we reverse the process which may have been
if
employed, we get instead of Y. H. V. H., H. V. H. Y.

Before the introduction of vowel signs, certain weak
consonants such as Yod and Vau, were sometimes
used to indicate vowel sounds, so we frequently see I
or E given as an equivalent for Yod, and or U O
given for Vau. Even Yod is sometimes given as Jod,
and Vau as Waw, so we have the name given as Y. H.
V. H. or I. H. V. H. or J. H. V. H., or Y. H. W. H.,
or I. H. O. H., etc.
Now the personal pronouns He and She are writ-

ten in Hebrew with the signs He, Vau, A-leph, and
He, Yod, A-leph. When A-leph terminates a word,
and has no vowel immediately preceding or following,
it is usually dropped. Now if we drop the final
A-leph we have the transposed Tetragrammaton, H.
V. H. Y., which are the personal pronouns He and
She, the male and female, representing the two great
principles of nature, the dual aspect of the Second
Logos.
Now if we turn to the Kabbalah, which contains
some portions of the secret teachings of the Jews,
we great principle is the exact
shall find that this
meaning of the Tetragrammaton. It does not repre-

sent the Absolute Deity, or the Unmanifested Logos,
but it does represent the manifested, the first emana-
tion Adam Kadmon. The two
aspects Beingof
which are potential Logos, become mani-
in the First
fested in the later stages of evolution. This name
represents the four worlds Alseluth, signified by
Yod, Briah by He, Yezerah by Vau, and Asiah by the
Second He. The source of the Tetragrammaton is
Absolute Deity, Ain-Soph, the Causeless Cause. The
Tetragrammaton is also the Sephiroth, which are ten
in number, and emanate one from the other. The
highest is Kether, the Crown; then comes Chockmah
and Binah, the male and female principles. From
these emanate the other seven. The very fact that
the meaning of the Tetragrammaton is identical with
the words obtained by transposing the letters, is suf-
ficient evidence that the word was really H. V. (or
W. U. O.) H. Y. (or J. I. E.), according to the equiva-
lents adopted for the signs whether interpreted as
consonants or vowels and the names given to the
signs.
The meaning and pronunciation of the word was

carefully guarded. There is no hint given in the
ritual for this secrecy, but there is a scientific reason,
for the mystic Word has to do with the science of
rhythmic vibrations which is the key to the equili-
brium of all forces. In all mysticism the knowledge
of names meant the possession of powers. The

spoken name gave one the power of the name. It is
interesting to note how the Jews worked this idea into

their system. In the Talmud the wonderful works
of Jesus are ascribed to his use of the Sacred Name.
According to early traditions the knowledge whereby
he wrought these works was learned in Egypt, but in
the developed Toldoth the "word of power" was the
Holy Name, the Tetgrammaton.
All nations of antiquity had their Sacred Names,

which were "Words of Power." These names were
formed by taking a letter which conveyed a meaning
and adding other letters each having a meaning; the
whole word thus formed constituting a Sacred Name
or Word, which contains some great truth. These
Names were Words of Power, for, as the unfolding
consciousness realizes one truth after another and be-
comes that truth, it rules. In Persia the Sacred Name
was H. O. M., in India A. U. M., in Scandinavia
I. O. W., in Greece I. A. O., etc.
THE RITE OF CIRCUMAMBULATION

This Rite again connects Freemasonry with the An-
cient Mysteries. It consists in a formal procession
around the altar, and originally alluded to the appar-
ent course of the sun which is from east to west. In
ancient Greece the priests, during the Rites of sacri-
fice, walked three times around the altar while chant-
ing a sacred hymn, which was divided into three

parts, and each part was to be sung at a particular
point in the procession. The analogy between this
practice of the ancients and the recitations of a pass-
age of Scripture in the Masonic circumambulation^ is
quite apparent. In making this circuit it was con-

sidered necessary that the right side should always be
next to the altar, and so the procession moved from
west to the north, then east, south, west and then to
the north again. We
find the same Rite among the
Romans, Druids, and Hindus. In all these ceremo-

nies they were "imitating the example of the sun and
following his beneficent course."
THE LEGEND OF THE WINDING STAIRS.
This Legend is connected with the Fellow Craft

degree. It is based upon I Kings, vi, 8, "The door
for the middle chamber was in the right side of the
house; and they went up with winding stairs into

the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the
third."
"Out of this slender material," says Dr. Mackey,

"has been constructed an allegory, which, if properly
considered in its symbolical relations, will be found
to be of surpassing beauty. But it is only as a sym-
bol that we can regard this whole tradition; for the
historical facts and the architectural details alike for-
bid us for a moment to suppose that the legend, as it
is rehearsed in the second degree of Masonry, is any-

thing more than a magnificent philosophical myth."
(The Symbolism of Freemasonry, Mackey, p. 215.)
The lesson which this legend teaches is not difficult
to discover. Freemasonry is a speculative science
which has for itsobject the investigation of divine

truth. The candidate is in search of more light, and
as all the ceremonies denote a progress from a lower
to a higher state, he is always progressing. This
fundamental symbolism of Masonry is found in each
degree. There is the mystical ladder, the ceremony

of circumambulation, the restoration to life, etc. The
Legend of the Winding Stairs symbolizes the same
fact the ascent of man from ignorance to knowl-
edge, from darkness to light, from death to life.
The .steps of the Winding Stairs commenced on

the porch of the Temple. This indicates the begin-
ning of the masonic life the preparation for enter-
ing the temple.
curious to note that the number of steps in
It is
allthe systems has been odd. This probably is due

to the fact that the symbolism of numbers was bor-
rowed from Pythagoras, in whose system of philoso-
phy the odd numbers were regarded as sacred, though
the number of steps has greatly varied. Tracing
boards have been found in which only five steps are
represented, and others which denote seven. At one
time in England the number was thirty-eight, which
was reduced to thirty-seven, and in this country the
number has been reduced to fifteen. Perhaps five
would be the more appropriate as the stairs only ex-
tended to the middle chamber. The number seven,
corresponding to the number of rounds in the mystic
ladder, would indicate the attainment of perfection
the Holy of Holies. We might say that the complete
stairs arecomposed of seven steps, three carrying the
candidate into the ground floor of the temple, two into
the middle, and two into the inner sanctuary The
general symbolism of the Legend is not affected by
the number of steps, or the method of division.
The candidate who succeeds in climbing the Wind-
ing Stairs will receive his reward. What is the re-
ward or wages of the Speculative Mason? Not sil-
ver nor gold, but Truth. Yet the whole of divine

truth cannot be imparted to the Fellow Craft. The
Middle Chamber, then, where he receives his wages,
is symbolical of the Fellow Craft degree, and the
wages are appropriate to the degree of his progress.
To again quote Dr. Mackey, "It is, then, as a sym-

bol, and a symbol only, that we must study this beauti-
ful legend of the Winding Stairs. If we attempt to
adopt it as an historical fact, the absurdity of its details
stares us in the face, and wise men will wonder at our
credulity. Its inventors had no desire thus to impose
upon our folly but offering it to us as a great philoso-
;
phical myth, they did not for a moment suppose that

we would pass over its sublime moral teachings to
accept the allegory as an historical narrative, without
meaning, and wholly irreconcilable with the records of
Scripture, and opposed by all the principles of prob-
ability. To suppose that eighty thousand craftsmen
were weekly paid in thenarrow precincts of the tem-
ple chambers, is simply to suppose an absurdity."
(Ibid, p. 226.)
We must guard against the materialization of our
allegories and symbols. Remember Masonry is a
"system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated
by symbols." To regard the myths as history is to
miss the truth which the symbols were designed to
teach. No intelligent Mason will fall into this error.
THE HIRAM LEGEND AND THE MASTER'S DEGREE.
The Hiram Legend and the Master's Degree are

derived from the Mysteries. They are the latest ex-
pression of the old Sun Myth and the Ancient Rite.
Dr. Mackey, in speaking of the symbol of Hiram,
says, "It was evidently borrowed from the pagan

Mysteries, where Bacchus, Adonis, Proserpina, and
a host of other apotheosized beings play the same
role that Hiram does in the Masonic Mysteries."
(Ibid, p. 20.)
I have given, various forms of these Legends the
Osiris, Atys, Hu, Balder, and others. In each of
them the Hero of the Myth dies or is deprived of life,
is laid away inthe tomb, and rises again from the
grave. This ceremony was called the mystical death
and resurrection.
The legend represents the activity of the Logos in
the cosmos, and the mystic life of the Initiate. The
ancient legends and symbols always have a double
meaning and sometimes more. The lectures on True
Initiation set forth in detail the two aspects of the
Sun Myth the mythic and the mystic. To the unin-
itiated the cosmic or mythic aspect of the legend was
the only one seen, thus the Rites were supposed by
them merely to typify the death and resurrection of
some Hero or Demi God, as Osiris, Mithra, Atys,
A donis, Tammuz, etc., and so the Sun was wor-
v
shipped under these titles. Perhaps this was natural

enough, for the visible Sun was a symbol not only of
the Logos, the Spiritual Sun, but also of the Initiate.
The yearly course of the Sun represented in one as-
pect the mystic life of the Initiate.
You will recall that in the Hindu Mysteries when
the candidate reached the south
in his circuits, he
said, "I copy the example of the Sun, and follow his
beneficent course." This example was not merely ex-
ternal. The Sun is a symbol of the Logos, and its
yearly course typifies the work of the Logos, so that
the candidate, by representing the Sun and following

his course, is really following the example of the
Logos ;
the Sun Myth typifying both the activity of
the Logos and the mystic life of the Initiate.
In the true Mysteries the Rites symbolized the va-

rious stages of this mystic life. Complete mastery over
the lower nature was typified by placing the candi-
date in a trance and laying him away in a sepulcher
for three days and nights. In the Pseudo Mysteries
the aspirant was confined in a cell in his normal state,
and kept there in fear and darkness that he might
reflect on the seriousness of the step taken, and be
better prepared to receive the mysterious truths be-
queathed from the ancient days. This was the sym-

from which was called
bolical death, the deliverance
the resurrection.While confined in his cell the search
for the Hero was made and his body finally found.
The Master Mason will here see the source of the

Hiram Legend, and the Master's Degree. I am not
permitted to say more, neither is it necessary for those
who are qualified will understand. Mr. Singleton,
33rd degree, after describing the mystical death in the
Ancient Mysteries, says, "The Intelligent Mason will,
from this, discover the origin of the Rites in the 3rd
Degree of Symbolic Masonry and the 5th and 3ist
Degrees, A. A. S. R. . . The Mysteries, in all
.
their forms, were funereal. They celebrated the mys-

tical death and revivification of some individual by
the use of emblems, symbols, and allegorical repre-
sentations." (History of Freemasonry and Concord-
ant Orders, p. 73.) Mr. Singleton is here in error
in regard to the purpose of the Mysteries, if he means
that they merely celebrated the mystical death and
resurrection of some one individual. The ceremonies

of Initiation symbolized the progress of the human
soul, and the mystical death and resurrection were
experienced by every Initiate. Perhaps in the latter

days of the Mysteries, when no true Initiation took
place, the ceremonies may have been considered as
symbolizing the experiences of some special individ-,
ual,but such was not the case in the true Mysteries.
We see thus that the story of Hirami is but a vari-

ation of the ancient and universal legend, in which
Osiris, Adonis, Dionysus, Balder, Hu, and many more
have played the principal part. Some call Hiram a
"mythical symbol." This is true, but he is also a
mystical symbol. Mythically Hiram is the Sun, a
symbol of the Logos ; mystically he is the perfect In-
itiate, the Grand Master. The myth was not intended
to add to the facts of history, but, as De Witte points
out, "to illustrate a philosophical or religious truth."
We must here utter a protest against the sectarian
interpretation of the Master Mason's degree. It is

true that the degree embraces the inner truths of
Christianity, in common with all the mystic teaching.

But the origin of the degree and all its symbols and
legends were derived from the Ancient Mysteries, and
to call the degree a Christian institution, as do Hutch-
inson and Oliver, is erroneous. Dr. Mackey, in
speaking of this tendency to Christianize Masonry,
says, "We find Christian Masonic writers indulging
in it almost to an unwarrantable excess, and by the
extent of their sectarian interpretations materially af-
fecting the cosmopolitan character of the institution.
This tendency to Christianization has, in some in-
stances, been so universal, and 'has prevailed for so
long a period, that certain symbols and myths have

been, in this way, so deeply and thoroughly imbued
with the Christian element as to leave those who have
not penetrated into the cause of this peculiarity, in
doubt whether they should attribute to the symbol an
ancient or a modern and Christian origin. It is. .
in this way that Masonry has, by a sort of inevitable
process (when we look to the religious sentiment of

the interpreters), been Christianized. I do not . .
object to the system when the interpretation is not

strained. all that I contend for is, that such in-
. .
terpretations are modern, and that they do not belong

to, although they may often be deduced from, the an-
cient system." (The Symbolism of Freemasonry,
Mackey, pp. 238, 246.)
THE SPRIG OP ACACIA.
In all the Mysteries there were sacred

Ancient
plants which were symbols of Initiation. The myrtle
was used in the Mysteries of Greece, the areca in the
Egyptian Mysteries, the mistletoe in the Druidical
Mysteries, the lotus in the Indian Rites, the lettuce in
the Mysteries of Adonis, etc. Masonry has borrowed
thiscustom from the ancients and adopted the acacia,
which was sacred among the Hebrews, as its mystic
symbol.
The acacia was a sacred tree which grew abund-
antly in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The sanctuary of
the tabernacle and the holy ark were constructed from
this wood, and the tree ever afterwards was regarded
as sacred.
This symbol has several meanings, but for our pur-

pose we need mention only the primary and original
meaning which is Initiation, and its use as a symbol

of immortality and innocence. These are closely con-
nected and must be considered together to get the full
meaning of the symbol. In olden days Initiation was
based upon innocence; that is, upon purity of life,
and the Initiation brought a realization of immor-
tality.
THE RITE OF DISCALCEATION.
This Rite refers to the act of uncovering the feet on

approaching holy ground. It is a symbol of rever-
ence, and was a common practice among all the na-
tions of antiquity. The priests always offered sacri-
fices with uncovered feet. Pythagoras, instructed his
disciples to offer sacrifices and worship with their
shoes off. The Mohammedans, when about to per-
form always leave their slippers at
their devotions,
the door of the Mosque. The Druids practiced the
same custom whenever they celebrated the sacred
rites. The Peruvians also left their shoes on the
porch when they entered the temple. Dr. Oliver tells
us that "The same usage prevailed equally in India,
and the islands to the west of Europe; and even the
American savages thought that uncovering the feet,
while in the act of devotion, was a sublime method of
paying honor to the Deity." (Signs and Symbols,
Oliver, p. 153.)
The Jewish lawgivers adopted this sign of rever-

ence, and the symbolism has descended to us. The
application of the symbol to the third degree is well
known to every Mason.
THE STONE OF FOUNDATION.

This is the most important symbol of the Royal
Arch degree. It must not be confounded with any
of the other stone symbols, such as the corner-stone,

the key-stone, or the cape-stone.
In the place we need to understand that the

first
symbol purely allegorical. To accept it in a literal

is
sense will present, as Dr. Mackey says, "Absurdities

and puerilities which would not occur if the Stone of
Foundation was received, as it really is, as a philo-
sophical myth, conveying a most profound and beau-
tiful symbolism. Read in this spirit, as all the legends
of Masonry should be read, the mythical story of the
Stone of Foundation becomes one of the most impor-
tantand interesting of all the Masonic symbols." (The
Symbolism of Freemasonry, p. 283.)
We have not time to trace the legendary history of
the Stone of Foundation probably more legends are
connected with this stone than with any other Masonic
symbol. The Masonic legends of the Stone of Foun-
dation, like nearly all that are of Jewish origin, are
derived from the Jewish Talmud, and owe their ori-
gin to the imaginative genius of the Talmudic writ-
ers. But there is this difference between Talmudists
and Masons. The former accept all these traditions,
with their puerilities, anachronisms, and absurdities,
as historical, while the intelligent Mason receives
them as allegories.
It would be interesting, did space permit, to give in

full these Rabbinical reveries, and also the Masonic
traditions based upon them. But I can only outline
the tradition.
The Talmudic legends tell us that Enoch built a

subterranean temple on Mount Moriah, consisting of
nine vaults situated beneath each other and communi-
cating by apertures left in each vault. In the lowest
arch he deposited a cubical stone, called afterwards
the Stone of Foundation, on which had been inscribed
the ineffable name of God. He then made a door of
stone, with a ring in it, and placed it over the opening
of the uppermost arch, and covered it so that it could
not be seen. In the destruction of the world by
the deluge all trace of the subterranean temple was
lost, but when David was digging for the founda-
tion of the Temple, he discovered, in the low-
est depths of the excavation, a certain stone on which
thename of God was inscribed. This stone he re-
moved and deposited in the Holy of Holies. It
was a favorite theory of the Talmud legend makers
that David laid the foundation upon which Solomon
built the temple. The Masonic tradition is substan-
tially thesame as the Rabbinical, except that it sub-
stitutes Solomon for David as the discoverer of the
stone, and makes him deposit it in the crypt of the

temple, where it remained until the foundation of the
second temple was laid, when it was discovered and
placed in the Holy of Holies.
These legends, in the light of historical narratives,
would be, as Lee says, "so many idle and absurd con-
ceits," as facts, but as allegories they contain an im-
portant symbolism.
The symbolism and worship of stones in ancient
times wa.s almost universal. The Greeks originally
used unhewn stones of a cubical form to represent
their Gods. These consecrated stones were placed
before the doors of the houses in Athens, also in front

of the temples, in the schools and libraries, and at
the corners of the streets.
The Thebans worshiped Bacchus under the form of

a square stone: Arnobius says that Cybele was repre-
sented by a small stone of black color, and Eusebius
cites Porphyry as saying that the ancients represented
the Deity by a black stone because his nature was ob-
scure, and inscrutable. The Mohammedans also have
a black stone, which was formerly worshiped and is
still much reverenced by Musselmen. The Druids
represented their Gods by cubical stones, and we also
find that the early American races worshiped square
stones. These citations are taken from Mackey's
"Symbolism of Freemasonry." They might easily
be extended, but those given will suffice to show that
everywhere in the ancient world cubical stones were
used as a symbol of the Deity.
These mystical stones were all symbolic, and the le-
gends connected with them allegories. The Masonic
Stone and legend are no exceptions; the Stone of
Foundation is but a symbol of the Deity.
THE LOST WORD.
The symbol of the Lost Word and the legend of
the search for it, embodies the whole design of Free-
masonry. The primary object of Freemasonry is the
search after Divine Truth. The Word is a symbol
of this Divine Truth, and this truth) is the key to the
"Science of the Soul." The real Master, then, is one
learned in the Divine Science a "Moses" to lead the
neophyte through a wilderness of experience, from

his ignorant self to a knowledge of his true Self, a
conscious union with God.
The symbolism of the Lost Word may be applied

to the degradation of the Ancient Mysteries which
resulted in the loss of the real Word the knowledge
of occult science. From that time to this, men have
ever been in search of the realWord, and although
but few have been able to regain the knowledge of
the true Mysteries, others have often caught glimpses
of the inner meaning, which is symbolized by the
Substituted Word. That the symbolism is not well
understood evident from the fact that but few Ma-
is
sons, if any, to-day possess the knowledge and power

implied in the symbols and legends of the Order; for
this reason only "The Substitute" monitorial expla-
nation "is given to the neophyte until he, perhaps in
future generations, shall find the True Word."

That Masonry was in search of the meaning of this
symbolic Word, is proven by the insight of the
clearly
Revisionists in 1717, and the fact that Symbolic Ma-
sonry did not pretend to give the candidate the Lost

Word. They knew that the Word was no mere name,
but a knowledge of occult science which could only
be attained by soul development. Real Mastership
must again be realized before the Lost Word can be
found, and such realization must of necessity be the
experience of each individual brother by whom it is
found.
The use made of the tradition of the recovery of

the Lost Word, and its impartation in the Royal
Arch degree, shows that the later degree makers little
realized the They mis-
meaning of the symbolism.
took the
symbol thing symbolized. The
for the
Royal Arch degree can only give the symbol. The
real Word, which holds the inner meaning and the
power of the symbol, is still a

mystery. To under-
stand this mystic symbol, and all that it implies, is to
possess the key to the science of sciences the real
Knowledge or Word of Power.
CONCLUSION.
We will now bring this series of lectures to a close.
We have seen that Masonry is modeled on the An-
cient Mysteries, and derives its
important symbols
and legends from that source. Is this a mere coinci-
dence? Was there meant to be only a similarity in
outward form? We cannot so believe; the analogy
is far too close. The men who formulated the ritual
very well knew what they were doing. We believe

that the secret vaults contain jewels not yet discov-
ered, and it should be the work of every true Mason
to search diligently for "More Light." To discover the
full meaning of the glyphs and allegories is to revive
the Ancient Wisdom, the Secret Doctrine of An-

tiquity, the real Lost Word. That such Wisdom
once existed will not be denied by any intelligent Ma-
son, for the whole superstructure of the Order is
based upon the traditions of its existence. Dr. Buck
says, "Instead of being an imitation of the Mysteries
of Antiquity, Masonry should become their Restora-
tion and Perpetuation through the coming centuries,
not by relaxing its discipline, or changing its ritual,
but by deepening the learning, intensifying the zeal
and elevating the aim of every Brother throughout
the world." (Mystic Masonry, Buck, p. 79.)
We have seen that the Masters of old were true

Occultists Masters of Divine Science. Masonry has
preserved for us the names that indicate the reality of
occult knowledge and power in the Perfect and Sub-

lime Master, Prince Adept, Sublime Prince of the
Royal Secret, etc. If these names do not imply what
I have suggested they are a mere farce and should be
abolished. That they are empty titles to-day all will
agree ; many having recognized this fact, are calling
for their abolition. But I hold that instead of abol-
ishing the titles we should endeavor to make them

stand, in fact, for what in name they indicate. This
would be in line with the ancient tradition a recov-
ery of the real Lost Word, the key to the Science of
Knowledge. Every Mason should labor assiduously
for the realization of this ideal. Let us not be con-
tent with the mere rudiments of our philosophy. "That
skill," says Dr. Mackey, "which consists in repeating
with fluency and precision, the ordinary lectures, in
complying with all the ceremonial requisitions of the
ritual,or the giving, with sufficient accuracy, the ap-
pointed modes of recognition, pertains only to the
very rudiments of the masonic science." (Symbolism
of Freemasonry, p. 310.) There are many to-day who
are not satisfied with these preliminary acquirements,
and the cry for "More Light" is being heard in every
quarter of the Masonic world. Intelligent Masons
are beginning to realize that thereis something more
in our symbols and legends, and they are seeking their

inner and ultimate meaning.
Let us aid in this work by making our Lodges

schools,our labor study, our wages learning, thus
may we attain that knowledge of Divine Truth which
shall truly make us Master Masons.
So mote it be.
MASONIC
AND
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In the Quarries.
There lie many gems of eloquence, many sparkling rays of genius,
many practical thoughts and expressions, which if brought to the
surface would prove of essential service to the Craft. These val-
uable treasures should not be left to lie in the rubbish and be
covered with the dust of ages and forgotten. These writings of
the wisest and best Masonic scholars, words of wisdom expressed
by men of age and experience, ought to be garnered into store-
houses where all can have access whence to draw "more light"
to illuminate the pathway of the worker in the Masonic quarries.
A library of rich treasures of Craft literature, would prove of
essential benefit to the seeker after knowledge, and would be to
him a school of instruction, whence he could derive inspiration as
refreshing as that to the weary traveler who slakes his thirst at the
fountain of sparkling waters. Comps. George J. Gardner and
Charles T. Mitchell. Cor. Report Grand Chapter, New York, 1890.
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Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry. The Mysteries-
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Christian, their Origin and Objects; the Meaning of True Initiation,
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Laws and Present Usages which govern the Order at the present
day. Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer. Cloth, No. 22086 1.50
Ancient Constitutions of Freemasons. Verbatim copy of
the original edition of 1723, containing the History, Laws, Charges,
Orders, Regulations and Usages, together with a collection of old
Masonic Songs and Music. Anderson. (An orignal in good
condition is worth $65.00.) No. 22081 1.00
Antiquities of Freemasonry. Comprising Illustrations of the
Five Grand Periods of Masonry, from the Creation of the World
to the Dedication of King Solomon's Temple; including chapters on
Masonic Tradition, Masonry from the Creation to the time of
Enoch, Origin of Arts and Sciences, Masonry from Enoch to the
Deluge, Idolatrous Mysteries as contrasted with Freemasonry,
Masonry from the Deluge to Isaac, Symbolic Instruction, Masonry
from Isaac to the Deliverance from Egyptian Captivity, Five Points
of Fellowship, Masonry from the Deliverance to the Dedication of
King Solomon's Temple. Illustrated. Rev. George Oliver, D. D. Blue
cloth, gilt. 51/2x8 1/4, 242 P gs, No. 22091 1.50
Cyclopedia of Fraternities, The. Including the Origin, Pur-
poses, Growth, History and Statistics of 600 or more societies. By
Albert C. Stevens assisted by more than a 1000 members of various
Orders. Complete in one Vol., 468 pgs. Illustrated by Charts
and Maps. Cloth, No. 22411 ..4.50
Egypt the Cradle of Ancient Masonry. Comprising a His-
tory of Egypt, with a comprehensive and authentic account of the
Antiquity of Masonry, the result of many years of personal investi-
gation and exhaustive research in India, Persia, Syria and the
Valley of the Nile. Norman F. de Clifford. Beautifully illustrated,
Art Canvass binding, 2 vol., 9x12. 644 pgs, No. 22421 .... 6.75
"
Half American Morocco, 2 vol., No. 22423 .... 7.50
" "
Full American Morocco, 2 vol.," No. 22424.... 10.00
Full Persian Morocco, 1 vol., No. 22425 .... 10.00
Egyptian Symbols, A Comparison with those of theHebrews.
Including Principle of Symbology, Application to Egyptian Symbols,
to the Symbols of Color and to the Symbols of the Bible. A clear,
concise exposition of a most interesting subject, by Frederick Portal.
Translated from the French, by John W . Simons. Illustrated.
No. 22381 1.00
Encyclopedia. By A. G. Mackey, D. D. Revised and enlarged

with new Subjects, Pronouncing Dictionary. Masonic Scripture
Names etc. C. T. McClenachan. Cloth No. 22401 4.50
Library Sheep, No. 22402 6.00
Half Russia, Gilt Top, No. 22405 6.50
Full Morocco, No. 22404 8.00
Two Vol. Edition, No. 22406 11.00
Genius of Freemasonry, The, and the 20th Century Crusade.
For the good of Masonry, and in the interest of Freedom and
Fraternity, Light, Liberty and Love; against Ignorance, Superstition
and Fear, Despotism and Jesuitism. J. D. Buck. Cloth, bound.
339 pgs.No.-22656 1.00
History and Cyclopedia, Illustrated. An Account of the
Rise and Progress of Freemasonry. Definitions of Technical
Terms used by the Fraternity; also "A Complete Dictionary of
Symbolic Masonry" George Oliver, D. D. and Robert Macoy, 33,
717 pgs, 222 engravings. Full Art Canvass, No. 22391 2.75
Library Sheep, Marble Edge, No. 22392 3.00
Half American Russia, Gilt Top, No. 22395 3.25
Half American Morocco, Full Gilt, No. 22393 3.50
Full American Russia, Full Gilt, No. 22397 4.25
Full American Morocco, Full Gilt, No. 22394 5.75
Full Persian Morocco, Full Gilt, No. 22398 8.50
History of Initiation. In Twelve Lectures: General Introduc-
tion, History of Initiation in Hindustan, Philosophy of the Eastern
Mysteries, Initiation in Persia, Initiation in Greece, Ceremonies of
Initiation into the Mysteries of Bacchus, the Celtic Mysteries, Cere-
monies in Britain, Symbols and Doctrines of the Druids, Gothic
Mysteries, Doctrines and Morality, History of Initiation in America,

comprising the Rites, Ceremonies and Doctrines of all the Secret
and Mysterious Institutions of the Ancient World. Rev. George
Oliver, D. D. Illustrated, 218 pgs. Blue cloth and gilt stamps,
5'/4 x8!/4 , gilt. No. 22801 1.50
History of Freemasonry, from the Building of the House of
the Lord, and its progress throughout the civilized world, down to
the present time; to which is added a History of the Craft in the
United States, J. W. S. Mitchell, M. D., P. G. M., P. G. H. P.,
and P. E. C. Two magnificent volumes of 1500 pgs., royal octavo,
6V^x9V2 inches, bound in Emblematic Blue Silk Linen. Embossed
with jewels in silver, complete, No. 22781 4.00
Sheep, Library style, No. 22782 5.00
Morocco (dark red) Jewels in gold, No. 22784 6.00
Historical Landmarks, Geo. Oliver. The body of this work is
of itself one of the greatest contributions to Masonic literature;
while the annotations on the original text, by Dr. Oliver, add im-
mensely to its value. There is a fine steel likeness of the author
expressly engraved for the American edition, besides the many
beautiful illustrations with which this great masterpiece of Masonic
writing abounds. Two volumes in one. 1000 pages, 6'/2 x 9'/2
No. 22723 4.00
History of the Knights Templar. C. G. Addison. A
condensed narrative or History of the Great Crusades; a thrilling
account of the longest and hardest struggle for freedom of Christian
principles that the world has ever known. No such zeal and
ardor have ever been recorded; no such battles have ever been
fought in ancient or modern times; no such persecutions, martyr-
dom and suffering for any cause as those endured by the Crusa-
ders to whom we owe our beautiful system of Templarism.
The work is also a record of events in connection with the
Orders, from those strenuous times to the present date, containing
the proceedings of Triennial Encampments down to and including
the 30th, at Saratoga in 1907. Some of these original proceedings
are very scarce, and only to be found in rare collections.
Full art canvas No. 22811 3.25
Library sheep. No. 22812 3.50
Half American Russia. No. 22818 3.75
Half American Morocco. No. 22813 4.00
Full American Russia. No. 22819 4.75
Full American Morocco. No. 22814 5.00
Full Persian Morocco. No. 22817. . .8.75 .
History of Freemasonry, A Concise. Robt. F. Gould-
A most reliable comprehensive and valuable book. 559 pgs. 36
Columns of index. Nearly 200 illustrations, many of them beau-
tiful half tone engravings. Cloth. No. 22771 2.75
Library Sheep, No. 22772 4.00
Half Moroco, No. 22773 3.75
Full Morocco, No. 22774 4.75
Levant Morocco, )No. 22775 8.50
Irish Prince and Hebrew Prophet, a Masonic Tale of the

Captive Jews and the Ark of the Covenant. A most
"
interest-
ing book. By the author of "The Jericho Papers. 300 pgs.,
6 x 9!/2 , No. 23001 1.50
Lexicon of Freemasonry, containing a definition of all its Com-

municable Terms, notices of its History, Traditions, and Antiqui-
ties, and an account of all the Rites and Mysteries of the Ancient
World. A. G. Mackey, 526 pgs. No. 23161 3.00
Lights and Shadows of the Mystic Tie. Consisting of

absorbing Masonic tales romantic, tragic and humorous; a few of
which are: The Masonic Breastpin, a thrilling Indian story; Death
on the Sierra Nevada; Catherine Williams or Husband and Wife;
The Church Trial, or "Jynin," the Masons; Stone-Squarer's Lodge
No. 91; The Broken Tessera; Three Buds of Sweet Briar; The
Echo and the Flute; and more than a hundred other stories,
sketches, anecdotes, opinions, songs and poems, illustrating the
character and tendency of Freemasonry, including Robert Burns'
Farewell to Masons. Rob. Morris and Albert G. Mackey, 624 pgs.
illustrated, beautifully bound in blue and gold. No. 23181 .... 2.50
Lodge Goat and Goat Rides, The. More than a thousand
anecdotes, incidents and illustrations from the humorous side of
Lodge life. Compiled and edited by James Pettibone. 600 pgs.
Cloth. No. 23191 2.00
Low Twelve. Edward S. Ellis, A. M. A
book of thrilling
and impressive stories of Masonic bravery and loyalty, told with
that accuracy and charming style which has given Mr. Ellis such
world-wide popularity. Half-tone Illustrations. No. 23221 .... 1.50
Full Leather, a fine gift book. No. 23224 2.50
"
Lost Word Found, The. The most compelling bit of literature
yet presented by Dr. Buck, and unlike anything ever written
concerning the mystery of the Lost Word." J. D. Buck. 32*
No. 23196.. .50
Man of Mount Moriah, The. From Symbolism and Prophecy
to Sacrifice and Fulfillment
a wonderfully interesting story of the
Grand Architect at the Building of King Solomon's Temple.
C. M. Boutelle. Beautifully illustrated, followed by forty pages of
the best Masonic and O. E. S. poetry, including Esther, a sacred
drama. 334 pgs. Edition after edition has been sold, which en-
ables us to greatly increase the quality and style of the book for
serviceable wear and richness of appearance. A
choice gift book.
Half Morocco and full gilt. No. 23488 4.00
Half Russia and full gilt. No. 23487 3.60
Half Morocco, marble edge. No. 23483 2.80
Half Russia, marble edge. No. 23486 2.80
Full Cloth, marble edge. No. 23481 2.40
Heavy Paper Sides, marble edge. No. 23485 1.60
Masonic Gem. A collection of Masonic Odes, Poems, etc. A

sketch of Esoteric and Exoteric Masonry. Rev. A. E. Alford.
Illustrated. No. 23541 50
Masonic Sketch Book, or Gleanings from the Harvest Field of
Masonic Literature. By E. du Laurans. This book covers a
great variety of subjects and includes some of the choicest work
of our best Masonic writers, as well as many valuable and inter-
esting articles by the author. Full gilt sides and edges. 345 pgs.
6x9 Illustrated. No. 23291 2.00
Masonic Token. WilliamAnderson.
T. A
gift book for all
seasons. Full gilt sides and edges. Embellished with upwards
of thirty illustrations, the letter-press being from the pens of a
large number of our most gifted authors; especially intended for
Masonic home reading. 289 pgs. No. 23311 2.25
Memphis, Ancient and Primitive Rite. Origin, Introduction

and Summary Excerpts from the Landmarks of the
of the History;
Order, Institution in America, Manifestos, Withdrawal from Orient
of France, Treaty, Confederation, Present Status, Degrees, Seals,
Emblems etc. J.A.Gotlieb M.A., M.D., LLD.
No. 22821 1.00
Mission of Masonry, The. Rev. Madison C. Peters. Cloth.
No. 23356 50
Paper. No. 23360 .35
Morals and Dogma, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite from the
1st, 33d Degree, by Albert Pike, Grand Commander. This
to
valuable work is the result of years of study, translations from
ancient and modern languages, and thousands of dollars expendi-
ture by the author. The Masonic and Theosophical student will
find init a mine of knowledge that can be found nowhere else,
and heretofore within the reach of but few. The greatest book
ever written or printed about Free Masonry. 861 pgs. 6V^x9V^.
Cloth binding with gold stamps. No. 23361 5.25
Mystic Masonry. Explains the Symbols of Freemasonry and

their connection with theGreater Mysteries of Antiquity, in which,
for centuries, have been concealed the grandest achievements in
knowledge ever gained by man, that, through the efforts of Free-
masons, may be and are being understood and restored to the
world. J. D. Buck, 32. Illustrated. 260 pgs. No. 23421 1.50
Poetry of Freemasonry. Rob. Morris, L. L. D., Masonic Poet

Laureate, with Portrait and Biography of the Author, by his son.
Introduction by the Author, and his favorite poem "We Meet Up-
on the Level, and Part Upon the Square" in the original words
and changes, followed by over 500 poems, notes and illustra-
later
tions, 400
pgs. Of finest book paper. Beautifully embossed
cover, 8 x lOVfc inches. No. 23281 2.75
Gold and silver leaf stamping, gilt edges. No. 23285 3.50
Rose Croix, The. A story of Two Hemispheres. A most
interesting novel. David Tod Gilliam. 369 pgs. No. 23946 . . 1.60
Rosicrucian Cosmo-conception, The, or Christian Occult
Science. An Elementary Treatise upon man's Past Evolution,
Present Constitution and Future Development. By Max Heindel,
who includes a note of thanks to Dr. Rudolf Steiner and Dr. Alma
Von Brandts. "Prove all things." Paul. 5^/2 x 7^/2 536 pages
14 of Index, Color plate, Illustrations, Diagrams, etc. With Red
under Gilt Edges, Green Cloth, Gold and Color Stamps. No.
23896 (A Master Work, worth many times its cost) .... 1.15
Rosicrucians, The. Their Teachings and Mysteries according
to the Manifestoes issued at various times by the Fraternity itself.
Also some of their Secret Teachings and the Mystery of the
Order explained. Bro. /?. Swinburne Clymer. 304 pgs.
No. 23906 3.00
Rosicrucians, Their Rites and Mysteries. Founded on
their manifestoes, and on and documents collected from the
facts
writings of initiated brethren. Hargrove Jennings Illustrated.
464 pages. 6x9 No. 23881 3.50
Sacred Mysteries. Freemasonry in times anterior to the Temple
of Solomon. Relics of Mayas and Quiches, 11,500 years ago,
their relation to the Sacred Mysteries of Egypt, Greece, Chaldea
and India. Augustus Le Plonfeon. No. 23956 2.50
Scarlet Book of Freemasonry* Contains an authentic and
thrilling history of the imprisonment and martyrdom of
seizure,
Free Masons and Knights Templars from A. D. 1275 to the pres-
ent time; history of the life of the renowned philosopher, Pytha-
goras, his extraordinary career and tragic death; an account of
the late remarkable discoveries of Masonic emblems under the
pedestal of an ancient obelisk in Egypt, together with a case of
recent persecution and death in that country; also an account of
the recent discovery of an ancient temple in Mexico with Masonic
emblems. Beautifully illustrated. 548 pages. 6'/2 x 9
In fine satin cloth and gilt. No. 23981 3.00
Morocco, gilt edges, very rich. No. 23984 4.00
Signet of King Solomon, or the Freemason's Daughter.

A. C. Arnold. A charming and fascinating story of a "Knight of
the Temple" in modern times. Beautifully illustrated. 288 pgs.,
6 x 9'/2 No. 23976
. 1.50
Signs and Symbols. Dr. George Oliver. Illustrated and ex-
plained in a series of twelve lectures. No. 23986 1.50
Singular Story of Freemasonry, The. A most attractive

concise and interesting little book. W. B Sibley. 4x6, 100 pgs.
No. 23916 75
Solomon's Temple. Its History and Structure. Rev. W. Shaw
Caldecott,No. 24026 2.50
Spirit of Freemasonry. Comprising Lectures on the State of
Freemasonry in the Eighteenth Century, the Design, Rites, Cere-
monies and Institutions of the Ancients, Nature of the Lodge,
Furniture, Apparel and Jewels of Masons, Temple at Jerusalem
Geometry, Master Mason's Order, Secrecy of Masons, Charity,
Brotherly Love, Occupations, and a Corollary followed by an ;
Appendix containing Charges, Addresses and Orations on various

Masonic occasions. William Hutchinson. With copious notes,
critical and explanatory, of great value, by the Rev. George Oliver.
No. 24021 150
Swedenborg and the Great Masonic Leaders of the
Rite,
Eighteenth Century. The Masonic career of Swedenborg and
his followers, and the relation between the symbolic system of
Swedenborgianism and Modern Freemasonry. Samuel Beswick.
No. 24051 1.00
Symbolism of Freemasonry. and Explaining its
Illustrating
Science and Philosophy, its Legends, Myths and Symbols. Mackey.
360 P gs.. No.24071 2.25
Symbol of Glory, showing the Object and End of Freemasonry,
in a valedictory and thirteen lectures Masonic Science, Poetry
:
and Philosophy, Knowledge, Doctrines, Circle and Parallel Mean-

ing, Great Lights, and Masonic Ladder, Theological Virtues and
Masonry, Clouded Canopy and Ladder Symbols, Application,
Blazing Star, Symbol of Glory, etc. Rev George Oliver. 298 pgs.,
.
cloth, black and gold stamps. No. 24061 1.50

Tradition, Origin and Early History of Freemasonry.
An elaborate account of the traditions which form the basis of the
degrees in Freemasonry and their coincidence with the Ancient
Mysteries; also the origin of the Society of Operative Masons and
its transformation into a Speculative Fraternity; with a brief history
of the Order, and its rituals and customs. By A. T. C. Pierson

and Godfrey W. Steinbrenner. 540 pgs. Q^/2 x 9'/4 Illustrated.
No. 24213 2.50
Washington and His Masonic Compeers. An interesting
and reliable work, abounding in facts and incidents pertaining to
Washington's Masonic life. Apart of his history, entirely omitted
by most of his biographers, brought to light by diligent research
among the Masonic records and documents of the past century.
Containing fine Masonic portrait of Washington and numerous
other illustrations. No. 24301 . , . 1.75 ,
A SELECTED ASSORTMENT OF BOORS
Historical, Fraternal, Symbolical, Mystic, Astrologic,
Occult, Psychic, Spiritualistic, Optimistic, Philosophic,
Masonic, New Thought, Etc.
Ahrinziman, The Strange Story of. As told by himself,
after a period of over 2000 years; through the super-conscious-
ness of Anita Silvani. The philosophy of this great Mystic and
Persian Ruler, what Life hath taught him of the soul on Earth,
in the Abyss, and in the Heavens A New Pilgrims Progress
Arabian Nights, Paradise Lost, Wanderings in Spirit, and Para-
dise Won. No es on Obsession and Mediumship. Preface by
Frederick W. Thurstan M. A. of Christs College, Cambridge.
"To each one comes life's lesson in a different form: Let
him that would learn the meaning of this story attend to these
words that he may the better understand, and let him that is the
idle hearer of a tale pass them by." Two volumes, combined
in one book of 49 chapters. Illustrated with a portrait of Ahr-
inziman and a Vision in the Desert. 284 pages 5|/2 x 7'/2 No.
22026 1.00
Altar in the Wilderness, The. In seven chapters The Golden
Age, The Exile, Life in Death, The Conflict. The Wilderness,
Illumination, The Temple, representing the Seven Spiritual Ages
of Man. Ethelbert Johnson. Cloth, No. 24231 50
Paper, No. 24235 .25
Ben Hur, a Tale of the Christ The Great Christian Drama.
Gen. Lew Wallace. No. 22076 1.50
Book of the Master, The. A clue to the mysterious religion of
W. Marsham Adams. Cloth, No. 22166
Ancient Egypt. 1.25 . . .
Brotherhood. Nature's Law- Burcham Harding. No. 22176 .50

Brother of the Third Degree. An interesting and facinating
story of the thrilling experiences of an earnest occult student on
his way upward to those sublime heights of Universal Love and De-
votion to Humanity, attained only by the true Initiates of the Great
White Brotherhood a vivid picture of life in the famous occult
schools of Paris and the Far East; explaining much which has so
long been veiled in mystery. W. L. Carver. 377 pages, Cloth.
No. 22161.. 1.50
Constructive Psychology. The Constructive Principle of
Character Building. Dr. J. D. Buck. 32 No. 22296 1.00
Culture of Concentration. Occult Powers and their acquire-
ment. Wm. Q. Judge. No.22266 10
Discovery of the Soul, The. Throwing light on the path of
progressive man; leading through mysticism to the discovery of
those unused powers within the soul, which duly appropriated
give expression to the Divine in Man. Floyd B. Wilson.
No. 22306 1.00
Harmonies of Evolution. This work marks out a new path in
the treatment of the so-called Occult in Nature, attempting to explain
rather than to mystify and to illustrate and elucidate the correlation
of spiritual and physical forces in Nature, Florence Huntley.
463 pgs. No. 22716 2.00
Hermes and Plato. The mysteries of Egypt and of Eleusis.
Edouard Share. No. 22856 1.00
Initiation, The of, or How to Attain Knowledge of the
Way
Higher Worlds. Rudolf Steiner, Ph. D. Americanized from the trans-
lation by Max Gsyi. Notes by Edouard Schure. A
most valuable
and natural guide in a matter between you and yourself. New
large type. Paper. No. 24280, .75 No. 24276 .... 1.00
Initiation and its Results. Rudolf Steiner, Ph. D. sequel A
to the Way of Initiation. These
works, in the plainest and clearest
way, give more instruction in occult knowledge than any yet
published. Mystics, and the Theosophic Press indorse them in
the highest terms. New large type. No. 22976 1.00
In Tune with the Infinite. Ralph Waldo Trine. Bound in
Japanese style or special silk. No. 22996 1.25
Isis Unveiled. About 1500 pages. Portrait of the Author.
H. P. Blavalsky. No. 23016 2 Vols. 6x9 7.00
Josephus. The authentic works and great Jewish his-
life of this
torian and celebrated warrior. Translated by Wm. Winston, M. A.
1055 pgs., attractively bound and illustrated. 7V^x9V^.
No. 23061 1.75
Kingdom of Love, The. Henry Frank. Beautifully ex-
pressed, wholesome, helpful and inspiring essays. 245 pgs.
No. 23086 1.00
Koran, The. Commonly called the Alkoran of Mohammed (the
Mohammedian Bible). 559 pgs. No. 23071 1.50
Kirshna and Orpheus, the Great Initiates of the East and West.
Edouard Sehure. No. 23106... 1.25
Last Great Initiate, Jesus the. Edouard Schure. The Essenes,
St. John, etc. No. 23056 1.00
Life and Writings of Dr. Rob't. Fludd, the English
Rosicrucian. /. B. Craven. Cloth. No. 23206 2.50
Light on the Path. A treatise (or the personal use of those
who are unfamiliar with the Eastern Wisdom but desire to enter
within its influence. C. M. Cloth. No 23166 50
Leather. No. 24167 75
Man Limitless. "A study of the possibilities of man when act-
ing under infinite guidance with which he is in absolute touch."
Floyd B. Wilson. No. 23531 1.25
Mastery of Mind in the Making of a Man, The. A

searching analysis and exposition of the power of mind in body-
building and the forming of personality. Henry Frank. 250 pgs.
No. 23306 1.00
Myrtle Baldwin. A novel of great interest, especially to the

Fraternity, as it is full of Masonic principles. Bro. Charles Clark
Mann, author of The Hermet, etc. 510 pgs. 5^/4x7^/2. Illus-
trated, green cloth, black and gold stamps. An excellent gift.
No. 23586 1.50
Mystical Life of Ours, This. Ralph Waldo Trine.

No. 24236 1.00
Occult Science in India, and among the Ancients, with an

account of their Mystic Initiations and History of Spiritualism.
Louis Jacolliot. Cloth. No. 23715 2.50
Occultist's Travels, An. Willy Reichel. Cloth.
No. 33726 1.00
Paths to Power. "The gain strength

struggling will
the
doubting assurance and the despairing hope, from this book."
Fifteenth edition. Floyd B. Wilson. No. 23796 1.00
Philosophy of Fire, The. "There is nothing new under the

sun." Fire Philosophy is the foundation of all True Initiation, and
allMystic and Occult Fraternities, as well as the Secret Doctrine
and Ancient Mysteries. Atlantis, its Beauty, and its Fall. The
Templars, and Fire Philosophers. The Therapeutae and Essenes
and their Initiation. Second and very much enlarged edition,
contains the Rosicrucian Fire Philosophy according to Jennings.
R. S. Clymer. About 250 pgs. Silk Cloth. Symbol in gold.
No. 23806.. 1.50
Pythagoras and the Delphic Mysteries. EJouard Schare.
No. 23811 1.50
Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx. A most interesting

and valuable work the result of extensive research among the
ruined palaces, tombs and temples, and careful study of the signs,
symbols and ancient manuscripts of the Mayas of prehistoric
Yucatan showing evidences of a civilization antedating, by cen-
;
turies, that of the Eastern Hemisphere, and giving a reasonable

solution of that mystery of the ages the Origin and Meaning of
the Egyptian Sphinx. Augustus Le Plongeon. Beautifully illustrated
with full page half-tone prints, from photographs taken by the
author while exploring those ancient remains. No. 23851. Reduced
from the Authors price 6.00 to 4.75
Queen Moo's Talisman. The Fall of the Maya Empire. A
beautiful Poem with Introduction and Explanatory Argu-
ment. Alice Le Plongeon. Profusely illustrated. Cloth.
No. 23841 1.50
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, The. With 12 full page illus-

and tinted border designs, 6x9.
trations in colors Deckel edge,
No. 23936 1.25. Watered Silk, No. 23940 2.00
Limp Leather, No. 23937 2.00
Secret Doctrine* The. The Synthesis of Science, Religion,
and Philosophy. 6x9 About 1500 pgs with Index. Vols. I
and II No. 24066. 10.00 Vol. Ill No. 24067.
. . 5.00. .
Secret Doctrine, Abridged. Hillaid. No. 24031... 2.00

Sermon on the Mount, and other Extracts from the New
Testament. A verbatim translation from the Greek with notes on
the Mystical or Arcane Sense. James M. Pryse. Cloth.
No. 24076 60
Servant in the House, The. A beautiful and uplifting drama
of Brotherly Love Charles Rann Kennedy. No. 23966.. 1.25
. .
Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, The. The wonderful

arts of the old wise Hebrews, taken from the Mosaic books of the
Kabbalah and the Talmud, for the good of mankind. 100 pgs.
Paper, No. 24040 75
Story of the Other Wise Man, The. A beautiful nar-

rative.Henry Van Dyke. Exquisitely printed and bound. Cloth,
No. 23961, .50. and Limp Leather. No. 23962 1.00
Temple, The* Its Ministry and Services at the Time of Jesus
Christ Rev. Dr. EiJerdeim. 308 ptfs. No. 24201 ..... 1.50
The Tabernacle. Its History and Structure. Rev. W. Shaw
Caldecott. Cloth, 5!4 x 7'/2, 230 pgs. No. 24176 1.75
Thoughts for the Occasion. A Manual of Historical Data and
Facts, Helpful in Suggesting Themes and in Outlining Addresses
for the Observance of Timely or Special Occasions of the Ma-
sonic, Odd Fellows and various other Orders. Compiled by
Franklin Noble, D. D. 576 pgs. cloth. No. 24216 2.00
Through Silence to Realization. This work embodies a
system of instruction for mental growth and attainment of ideals.
Floyd B. Wilson. 5!/2 x71/2 No. 24241. 1.00
Voice of the Silence* and Other Chosen Fragments from the
Book of the Golden Precepts for the Daily Use of Lanoos. B. P.
Blavatsky. Cloth. No. 24266, .50. Leather. No. 24267 .75
W. J. COLVILLE'S BOOKS.
A Selection of the Most Popular Works by This Great Author and Well
Known Lecturer in Europe, America, and Australia.
Ancient Mystery and Modern Revelation. A wonderful
new work. By W. The
book, which will be of con-
J. Colville.
siderable size, will aim to introduce selected gems from Oriental
literature together with philosophical interpretations of the most
disputed Bible texts, and it will also present highly condensed
biographical accounts of the Esoteric Schools of Antiquity and the
characteristics of their founders. To every liberal-minded Bible
student and to all who are investigating the psychic problems of
to-day the work as a whole must appeal as one of more than
average interest.
Arigidly restricted subscribers' edition will be published as
soon as 1,000 subscriptions have been received. All who wish to
add their names to the roll are invited to send $1.00 with full name
and post-office address. Immediately on publication the book will
be forwarded postpaid to every subscriber throughout the world.
Six copies to any single address on receipt of $5.0O.
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Dashed Against the Rock. A scientific novel, illustrated
with many remarkable diagrams. W. J. Colville. Cloth.
No. 22316 75
Fate Mastered-Destiny Fulfilled. Three stirring essays on
live issues. Avery tasteful presentation volume. W. J. ColvilU.
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Glints of Wisdom, or Helpful Sayings for Busy Moments. Ab-
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Leatherette, flexible. No. 22671. .40. Paper No. 22675 .30
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Life and Power from Within. An excellent book, embracing
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W. J. Colville. Cloth. No. 23151 75
Living Decalogue, The. 12 Expository Lectures. W. J.
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Old and New Psychology. Twenty-four chapters, including
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Onesimus Templeton. A vivid
romance, tracing the evolution
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Throne of Eden, The. Twenty-six chapters presenting im-
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Universal Spiritualism. Spirit Communion in all ages among
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resume of the Spiritual faith and practice of Egypt, India, Persia,
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of recent experiences in America, Great Britain, Australia, France,
Germany, Italy tending to show the
and other modern lands, all
persistent continuity Clairvoyance, Tele-

of spiritual revelation.
pathy and Psychic Phenomena in general are dealt with in sepa-
rate chapters at the close of the volume, which extends to 352
pages, making it a highly useful text-book for all who are
interested in the question of human immortality. W. J. Colville.
Cloth. No. 24256.., 1.00
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A Foreword* "I looked upon the world, and saw that it was
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of the cause. I looked again, deeper, and found the remedy I
found one Law, the Law of Love; one Life, the Life of adjust-
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one Truth, the Truth of a conquered mind and
;
a quiet and obedient heart. And I dreamed of writing a book

which should help men and women, rich or poor, learned or un-
learned, worldly or unworldly, to find within themselves the source
of all success, all happiness, all accomplishment, all truth: And
the dream remained with me, and at last becamesubstantial, and
now I send it forth into the world on and
its mission of healing
blessedness, knowing that it cannot fail to reach the homes and

hearts of those who are waiting and ready to receive it"
"
As a Man Thinketh. Inspiring and helpful New Thought."
The Path of Prosperity. A way leading out of undesir-
able conditions to health, success, power, abounding happiness
and the realization of prosperity.
Out from the Heart. Most optimistic and uplifting.
Entering the Kingdom. That heavenly kingdom within
the heart of man, where perfect trust, knowledge, peace and love
await all who Golden Gateways.
will enter its
The Way of Peace. It's realization and attainment.
The Heavenly Life. How to attain its supreme happiness
in this life, on this earth, here and now.
Morning and Evening Thoughts. Allen's rare jewels.
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Condensed List of New
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Order By Number.
22001 A. A. S. R., Book of the. McClenachan 3.00
22011 Adoptive Rite, revised, enlarged. Macoy i.oo
22021 Ahiman Rezon, General. Sickels 2.00
22024 Morocco binding, gilt edges 3.50
22026 Ahrinziman, An Occult Story. Anita Silvani. ... i.oo
22036 Akin's Manual of the Lodge 1.25
22006 All These Things Added. Allen i.oo
24231 Altar in the Wilderness. Johnson. Cloth 50
24235 Paper 25
22051 Amaranth Odes 20
22055 Paper 15
22041 Amaranth Ritual, revised,
enlarged. Macoy.. i.oo
22081 Ancient Const. Reprint 1723. Music. Anderson I.oo
22056 Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry i.oo

22060 Paper. Rev. Charles H. Vail 75
22071 Annotated Constitutions. Simons i.oo
23726 An Occulist's Travels. Reichel. Cloth i.oo
22086 Ancient Mystic Oriental- Masonry. Clymer 1.50
221 10 Ancient Order of Hurcules (Burlesque), 6 copies 5.00
22096 Ante Room Talks, Bloomer, i.oo
22091 Antiquities of Freemasonry. Oliver 1.50
22101 Antiquities of the Orient Unveiled, Redding... 1.50
22146 Arcane Schools-Hist. of Fmsy. John Yorker. . .
4.75
22016 As a Man Thinketh. J. Allen. Cloth, 4^x7^4 .50
22017 Leather 75
22018 Watered Silk 75
22019 Special Gift Edition 75
22020 Paper .15
22076 Ben Hur. Wallace 1.50
22141 Bible Testimony to Theosophical Truths IO
22175 Biography of Mrs. Babington 25
22191 Birthdays, Their Significance. Colville 50
22195 Paper 40
22001 Book of A. A. S. R. McClenachan 3.00
22146 Book of I. O. O. F. Forms i.oo
22151 Book of the Chapter. Mackey, . 1.60
22166 Book of the Master. Adams. Cloth 1.25
22176 Brotherhood. Harding 50
22186 Brotherhood of Healers. /. Macbeth. Cloth. . .50
22161 Brother of Third Degree. Carver, 1.50
22067 Buechners Fraternal Register, vest pock, leather. .60
22181 Busbee's Digest, I. O. O. F 4.00
22151 Chapter, Book of the, Mackey, Cloth 1.60
22221 Chapter Music. Ilsley 15
22230 Charges of a Mason. Chase 15
22201 Christmas, Easter and Burial Services, K. T 45
22202 Leather. Rev. Cornelius L. Twing 75
22204 Morocco I.OO
22205 Paper 35
222 10 Coles Initiation Ritual (Burlesque), 6 copies.. 3.75
24011 Colorado Grand Lodge Monitor. Foster. Cloth.. .75
24012 Leather i.oo
22246 Concise Cyclopedia of Freemasonry. Hawkins. .i.oo
2221 1 Concordia, words only Ilsley, 25
22281 Constitution and History, A. A. S. R 2.00
22295 Constitutions, O. E. S., Africa, paper 25
22236 Cosmogony of Evolution. Ingalese. Cloth 2.00
22266 Culture of Concentration. W. Q. Judge 10
22296 Constructive Psychology. Buck i.oo
22231 Council Monitor, Chase, i.oo
22241 Council Monitor. Mackey, 2.00
22251 Craft Masonry. .
Cunningham I.oo
22254 Morocco 1.50
22261 Cross Masonic Chart, Revised 1.75
22256 Crucifixion, by an Eye Witness i.oo
22241 Cryptic Masonry. Mackey 2.00
22411 Cyclopedia of Fraternities. Stevens 4.50
22271 Cushing's Manual, Parliamentary Law 75
22316 Dashed Against the Rock. Colville 75
Daughters of Sphinx (Burlesque), 6 copies.... 5.00
Diagram of Parliamentary Rules. Smith 50
Morocco, parchment chart i.oo
Discovery of the Soul 1 .00
Divine Pedigree of Man. T. J. Hudson 1.50
Dream Child. Huntley 75
Drew's Monitor, small 60
Early History and Antiquities. Fort, 3.50
Early History and Proceedings, N. Y. Vol. I 2.50
Early History, New York. Ross, 2.50
Eden to Malta. Belter, 1.50
Egyptian Symbols. Portal, Simons i.oo
Egypt the Cradle of Msry. de Clifford, 2 vol. . .
6.75
Half American morocco, 2 vol 7.50
Full American morocco, 2 vol 10.00
Full Persian morocco, I vol 10.00
Election and Installation 40
Paper 25
Emerson's Essays i.oo
Ency. and History. Oliver & Macoy. Cloth. . .
2.75
Library, sheep, marble edge 3.00
Half American Russia 3.25
Half American Morocco 3.50
Full American Russia 4.25
Full American Morocco 5.75
Full Persian Morocco 8.50
22401 Encyclopedia, Mackey, McClenachan, cloth 4.50
22402 Sheep 6.00
22405 Half Russia, Gilt top 6.50
22404 Full morocco 8.00
22406 Two Volume Edition 11.00
22411 Encyclopedia of Fraternities. Stevens, 4.50
22356 Entering the Kingdom. /. Allen 50
22357 Leather 75
22360 Paper 15
22396 Evolution of the Soul. T. J. Hudson 1.50
22476 Fate Mastered 30
22465 Female Masonry, "A la Lease" 50
22091 Five Grand Periods of Masonry. Oliver 1.50
22471 Five Jewels of the Orient, The. Burton i.oo
22490 Floral March. Simpson 40
22481 Floral Work. Bunnell 40
22485 Paper 25
24006 Florida Monitor, Gr. Lodge Comm 75
24007 Leather i.oo
22530 Freemasonry and Jesuitry 15
22571 Freemason's Monitor Sickels i.oo
22572 Same, Lodge, to Comdy., leather 1.50
22511 Freemason's Monitor. Thornberg 1.25
225 12 Leather 2.00
22501 Freemason's Monitor. Webb. Cloth 75
22502 Leather i.oo
22556 Freimaurer's Handbuch. Committee i.oo
22557 Leather 1.25
22551 Freimaurer's Handbuch, small 60
22581 Fundamental Truths. N. D. Cloth 50
22156 Funeral Services. Simons Macoy 35
22160 Paper bound 25
22651 Gem of Song, O. E. S. Pitkin &
Mathews 50
22655 Paper 25
22021 General Ahiman Rezon, a Large Monitor, 2.00
22024 Same, morocco and gilt. Sickels Macoy 3.50
22656 Genius of Freemasonry. Buck i.oo
22671 Glints of Wisdom. W.J.Colville 40
22675 Paper 30
22661 Great Work. T. K 2.00
22645 Guide to Chapter. Sheville, Gould, limp cloth. .75
22641 Same in cloth and gilt binding i.oo
22642 Leather bound with flap 1.25
22644 Bound in imitation cowhide morocco 1.50
22646 Large library size, cloth bound 1.50
22649 Same in imitation morocco 2.00
22676 Guild Free Masons, Anc. Const. Charges.... i.oo
22311 Hand Book of Freemasonry. Drew 60
22711 Harmonia. Music, Cutler, 25
22716 Harmonies of Evolution. Huntley 2.00
22741 Health from Knowledge. Colville 75
22745 Leatherette 50
22851 Heavenly Life. James Allen. Goth 50
22852 Leather 75
22855 Paper 15
22746 Hebrew Bible in English. $1.00 to 20.00
22856 Hermes and Plato, Schure I.OO
22721 Hermetic Writing of Paracesus. Waite. 2 vol.. .18.00
22866 Heroines of Jerico. Ceremonies. Cloth. Dickson .75
22861 Heroines of Jerico. Ritual, Cloth. Dickson .50 . .
22723 Historical Landmarks. Oliver 4.00

22726 Historical- Sketch Morton Commandery 2.00
22731 History and Power of Mind. Ingalese. Cloth. 2.00 .
22751 History of A. &. A. Scottish Rite. Folger, 3.00

22791 History of Colored Freemasonry. Grimshaw.., 1.25
22771 History of Freemasonry, Concise. Gould. Qoth 2.75
22772 Library sheep 4.00
22773 Half Morocco 3.75
22774 Full Morocco 4.75
22775 Levant 8.50
22761 Hist, ofFreemasonry & Concordant Orders.... 4.50
22763 Half Morocco. Stillson & Hughan 5.50
22765 Levant 10.00
22780 History of Frmsy. Gould, 6 vol. calf ^ 25.00
22779 Morocco. (Shopworn, sets only) 30.00
22781 History of Freemasonry. Mitchell, 2 vols 4.00
22782 Library sheep 5.00
22784 Morocco 6.00
22801 History of Initiation. Oliver 1.50
22811 History of K. T. Revised. Addison 3.25
22812 Library Sheep 3.50
22818 Half American Russia 3.75
22813 Half American Morocco 4.00
22819 Full American Russia 4.75
22814 Full American Morocco 5.00
22817 Full Persian Morocco 8.75
22821 History of Memphis Rite. Gottlieb I.OO
22831 History of O. E. S. Engle 2.25
22841 History of Rosicrucians Waite 2.50
24276 Initiation, Way of. Rudolf Steiner, P. D i.oo
24280 Paper 75
22976 Initiation and Its Results. Rudolf Steiner, Ph.D. i.oo
23010 Initiation of a Candidate 6 copies (Burlesque} 5.00
22991 Indian Masonry. Wright 1.50
22986 In Memoriam Orin Welsh. (Shopworn) .... 1.50
22981 Installation Ceremonies, Simons Whiting 40
22985 Paper 25
22281 Introduction and History, A. A. S. R 2.00
22996 In Tune with the Infinite. Trine 1.25
23011 I. O. O. F. Hist and Manual 3.75
23001 Irish Princeand Hebrew Prophet. Kissick 1.50
23046 Jerico Road. (I. O. O. F.) Thompson i.oo
22530 Jesuitry and Frmsy. Rameses 15
23056 Schure
Jesus, the Last Great Initiate. i.oo
23076 Jewels of Pythian Knighthood, cloth 3.00
23078 Haslf Morocco 4.00
23061 Josephus, The Works of 1.75
23121 Kabbalah Unveiled. S. L. M. Mathers. Goth.. 3.50
23086 Kingdom of Love. Frank i.oo
23120 King Solomon's Secret (Farce) 35
23092 K. of P. Drill. Carnahan, Leather 1.50
23091 Cloth i.oo
23115 Knights of the Zoroasters (Burlesque}, 6 copies 3.75
23070 Knight Templar Melodies, per doz 4.80
23071 Koran. Translated by Sale 1.50
23106 Krishna and Orpheus. Schure 1.25
26045 Labyrinth as a Life Story. 0. E. S. Paper 25
23141 Law of Mental Medicine. T.J.Hudson 1.50
23146 Law of Psychic Phenomena. T. J. Hudson 1.50
23161 Lexicon of Freemasonry. Mackey, 3.00
23151 Life and Power from Within. Colville 75
23186 Life and Doctrine of Paracelsus. Cloth 2.50
23286 Life and Writings of Dr. Robt. Fludd. Goth. .
2.50
23176 Light of Asia. Edwin Arnold 75
23166 Light on the Path. M. C. Cloth 50
23167 Leather 75
23181 Lights and Shadows. Morris Mackey 2.50
23156 Living Decalogue. Colville 50
23191 Lodge Goat. Comic 2.00
23201 Lodge Music. Ilsley 15
23196 Lost Word Found. Buck 50
23221 Low Twelve. Ellis 1.50
23224 Morocco 2.50
23472 Mackey's Ritualist, leather 1.60
23531 Man Limitless. Wilson 1.25
23481 Man of Mount Moriah. Boutelle 2.40
23486 Half Russia 2.80
23487 Half Russia, gilt edges 3.60
23488 Half Morocco, gilt edges 4.00
28485 Paper 1.60
23521 Manual, Lodge of Perfection. Nor. Jurisdiction 1.50
23517 Manual of Lodge of N. J. (New) 1.25
23491 Manual of the Chapter. Sheville and Gould 75
23501 Manual of the Lodge. Mackey 2.00
2351 1 Manual of the Lodge of N. J. Illust'd 25
23512 Leather 35
23526 Masonic Burial Services. Macoy 50
13461 Masonic Eclectic, 2 vols., shopworn i.oo
23541 Masonic Gem. Rev. A. L. Alford 50
23551 Masonic Jurisprudence. Simons 1.50
23561 Masonic Jurisprudence. Mackey 2.50
23401 Masonic Jurisprudence and Symbolism. Lawrence i.oo
23581 Masonic Law and Practice. Lockwood I.oo
23261 Masonic Lodge Music, (Kane Lodge, N. J.) 40
23265 Paper 25
23271 Masonic Light on Abduction of Morgan i.oo
23591 Masonic Musical Manual. Lithographed 75
23594 Leather. W. H. Janes. Lithographed I.oo
2 3595 Paper Board, 7^x10. Lithographed 50
23600 Paper Flexible. Lithographed 35
23592 Paper Board. Cheaper Print 35
2 3593 Paper Flexible. Cheaper Print 25
2 3596 Cloth Board. Cheaper Print 60
23598 Paper Flexible. Words only 4x6 20
23597 Cloth Flexible. Words only 4x6 25
2 3599 Cloth Board and Stamp. Words only 4x6. .
.35
23620 Masonic Orpheus. Words and Music. Dow. . .
1.75
23571 Masonic Parliamentary Law. Mackey 2.00
23285 Masonic Poetry. Morris. Silk cloth, gilt edge. 3.50
23291 Masonic Sketch Book. E. du Laurans 2.00
2331! Masonic Token Anderson, 2.25
23301 Masonic Trials. Treatise upon Law. Look 1.50
23316 Master Mason Hand Book. Crowe I.oo
23306 Mastery of Mind in Making of Man. Frank.. I.oo
23321 Maurerisches Liederbuch. Roehr. Cloth 25
23400 Memorial Service, O. E. S. Engle 25
22420 Metal Therapeutics. A Text Book. Colville 25
23346 Meyer's Tactics I.oo
23345 Middle Chamber Work. Paper 25
22501 Miniature Monitor. Webb 75
22502 Leather I.oo
23390 Missing Link (Burlesque}. 6 copies 3.00

2 3389 Same with outfit 5.00
23356 Mission of Masonry. Peters 50
23360 Paper 35
23351 Monitor of A. A. S. R. By Webb Carson 1.50
23376 Monitor Grand Lodge N. Y I.oo
23570 Moot Court Martial, 6 copies (Burlesque) 2.00
> 23361 Morals and Dogma, Scottish Rite. Pike 5.25
23580 Munchers of Hard Tack, 6 copies (Burlesque) 3.75
23671 Music of Chapter. Marsh. Cloth 65
23673 Paper Flexible 25
23674 American Morocco I.oo
23675 Paper Board 40
23586 Myrtle Baldwin. Munn 1.50
23411 Mystic Chord. Mabie 50
23415 Paper 25
23421 Mystic Masonry. Buck 1.50
23181 Mystic Tie. Morris-Mackey 2.50
23701 New Light from the Great Pyramid. Parsons 5.00
23707 New Odd Fellows Manual Grosh, leather 1.50
23706 Cloth. Larger Edition 2.50
23709 Morocco and Gilt. Larger Edition 3.25
23700 New Woman (Burlesque), 4 copies I.oo
23712 Nuggets from King Solomon's Mines. Schmalz 2.00
23721 Obelisk and Freemasonry. Weisse, paper I.oo
2 373 T Obituary Rites of Freemasonry. Macoy 50
23716 Occult Science in India. Jacolliot. Cloth 2.50
23776 Ocean of Theosophy, The. W. Q. Judge. Goth .75
23011 Odd Fellowship. His. and Manual. Ross 3.75
23736 Odd Fellowship, Official History. Canvas 3.75
2 3737 Half Morocco. Art canvas 4.75
2 3738 Full Morocco 5.50
23746 O. E. S. Burial Services. Macoy 50
23741 O. E. S. Manual. Macoy. Original Edition 75
23766 Old and New Psychology. Colville 1 .00
2377 1 Onesimus Templeton. Colville 50
23786 On the Road to Seh-Knowledge. Jones. Cloth. .50
23640 Oriental Order of Humility. 6 copies
(Burlesque) 1.50
23821 Origin of Freemasonry and K. T. Bennett. ... 1.75
22756 Out From the Heart. /. Allen. Cloth 50
22757 Leather 75
22759 Special Gift Edition !75
22760 Paper 15
23791 Path of Prosperity, The. J.Allen 50
23792 Leather 75
23795 Paper 15
23796 Paths to Power. Wilson i.oo
23816 Perfect Way; or, Finding of Christ. Kingsford 2.00
23281 Embossed Cloth Cover 2.75
23806 Philosophy of Fire. Clymer. Cloth 1.50
23285 Poetry of Freemasonry. Morris. Silk cloth, gilt 3.50
23751 Prelate's Lesson i.oo
23551 Principles, Practice, Masonic Law, Simons 1.50
23805 Put Through (Comic) 25
23811 Pythagoras and the Delphic Mysteries. Schure.. 1.50
23081 Pythian Knighthood, cloth. Cornahan 3.00
23851 Queen Moo and Egyptian Sphinx. Le Plongeon 4.75
23841 Queen Moo's Talisman. Cloth 1.50
23850 Queen of Sahara, 6 copies (Burlesque) 3.00
23861 Queen of the South. Macoy 40
23865 Paper 25
23870 Ransford Drill. O. E. S 75
23886 Red Blood of Odd Fellowship 1.50
23860 Review of Cryptic Masonry. Warvelle, paper.. .15
23901 Roberts' Rules of Order t 75
23046 Rose Croix. Gilliam l.6o
23896 Rosicrucian, Cosmo Conception. Heindel 1.15
23006 Rosicrucians. Clymer 3.00
23881 Rosicrucians, Rites and Mysteries. Jennings.... 3.50
23915 Royal Arch Companion. Chase, limp cloth 75
23911 Same in cloth and gild binding I.OO
23925 Royal Arch Standard. McGown, limp cloth, 75
22921 Same in cloth and gilt binding i.oo

23895 Royal Order of Ogling Owls (Burlesque), 6 cop. 3.00
23936 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayram. Deckel edge 1.25
23940 Watered Silk 2.OO
23937 Limp Leather 2.00
23931 Ruins of Empires. Voleny 75
23925 Paper 50
23984 Leather 4.00
2 3956 Sacred Mysteries. A. Le Plongeon 2.50
23981 Scarlet Book of Frmsy. Redding 3.00
23951 Scientific Demonstration of the Future 1.50
24066 Secret Doctrine, Vols. i, 2. Blavatsky 10.00
24067 Secret Doctrine, Vol. 3. Blavatsky 5.00
24031 Secret Doctrine Abridged 2.00
24076 Sermon on the Mount. Pryse. Cloth 60
2 397 J Sermons and Addresses. 480 pages. (Shopworn) .75
23966 Servant in the House. Kennedy 1.25
23991 Shibboleth, K. T. Monitor. Connor 1.25
22021 Sickles Ahiman Rezon, General 2.00
22024 Genuine Morocco 3.50
22571 SicklesMonitor I.OO
22572 Leather 1.50
23976 Signet of K. S., Freemanson's Daughter. Arnold 1.50
23986 Signs and Symbols. Oliver 1.50
23916 Singular Story of Freemasonry 75
24040 Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses i.oo
22301 Smith's Diagram of Parliamentary Rules, cloth. .50 .
22304 Leather, parchment chart i.oo

24020 Smithsonian Comedetta (Burlesque), 4 copies.. 1.00
24026 Solomon's Temple. Caldecott 2.50
24050 Sons of Osirus (Burlesque), 6 copies 3.75
24021 Spirit of Freemasonry. Oliver, Hutchison 1.50
24001 Standard Masonic Monitor. Simons Macoy... .75
24002 Same, in leather and gilt i.oo
24011 Standard Monitor, Colorado, cloth 75
24012 Leather I.oo
24006 Standard Monitor, Florida, cloth 75
24007 Leather I.oo
22216 Standard Monitor Illinois, Cook Cloth 40
22217 Leather 60
24085 Star Chamber. Fraser 6 copies (Burlesque) . .
5.00
23961 Story of the Other Wise Man. Cloth. Van Dyke .50
23962 Limp Leather i.oo
24051 Swedenborg Rite. Beswick I.OO
24071 Symbolism of Freemasonry. 2.25
24061 Symbol of Glory. Oliver 1.50
24176 Tabernacle. Caldecott 1.75
24191 Tactics, K. T. Grant i.oo
24192 Leather 1.25
24196 Tactics, N. Y. Regulation l.io
24181 Tactics Vest Pocket 25
24184 Morocco 75
24182 Leather 50
24206 Templar Hand book i.oo
24201 Temple. Eidersheim. Cloth 1.50
24236 This Mystical Life of Ours. Trine i.oo
24216 Thoughts for the Occasion 2.00
24186 Throne of Eden. W. J. Colville i.oo
24241 Through Silence to Realization. Wilson i.oo
24166 Traces of a Hidden Tradition in Masonry 1.25
24213 Traditions, Origins, Early History. Pierson.... 2.50
24225 Trial of Jesus. Druker 25
24230 Twentieth Century Orient (Burlesque), 6 copies 3.00
24256 Universal Spiritualism i.oo
24250 Van Nest's Burlesque R:tual, 6 copies 3.75
24251 Vocal Manual, words only. Macoy 25
24265 Vocal Star, O. E. S. Paper 25
24266 Voice of the Silence, The. Blavastky, Goth ... .50
24267 Leather 75
24301 Washington and His Masonic Compeers 2.50
24276 Way of Initiation. Rudolf Steiner, P. D i.oo
24280 Paper 75
24271 Way of Peace, The. /. Allen. Cloth 50
24272 Leather 75
24275 Paper 15
22501 Webb's Monitor 75
22502 Leather i.oo
24286 What All the World's a-Seeking. Trine 1.25
24315 Wisdom of the Ages (Burlesque), 6 copies.... 5.00
24281 Witching Hour. Thomas 1.50
24321 Worshipful Master's Assistant. Macoy 1.50
24324 Same, in Morocco and gilt 2.25
24425 32 Degrees K. P. or Ninety in the Shade. Comic. .25
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Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry 1909 by The Rev. Charles H

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Ancient Mysteries and Modern Masonry 1909 by The Rev. Charles H

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>er ant> SSoohseUer,

REV. CHARLES H. VAIL, 32

ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL

congregation of which the author is pastor. The

Albion, N. Y., March 10, 1909.

THE ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES .... 13

LIST OF MASONIC AND KINDRED BOOKS.. ..217

origin and nature of the Ancient Mysteries and

There were a few among the founders of Mod-

and future generations. Though empires and

Modern Masonry, has become in a special sense,

merely imitating various predecessors; but should

enter boldly into the inheritance of its birthright and

In setting forth the results of modern research con-

only see for himself the connection, linking the past,

would enable me to completely unfold the mystery

times, but that they do embody an occult science

amply repaid for my efforts.

I am sure the lectures will prove interesting and

meaning will be clear to all : and that they may lead

THE ORIGIN AND OBJECT OF THE

While our knowledge of the Mysteries is not so

the Persians, the Orphic and Bacchic and the later

Thusfollows that the key to antiquity is a

knowledge of its Mysteries. The late Gen. Albert

Pike, formerly Sovereign Grand Commander of the

Society, in the ages when it was exclusively re-

THE ORIGIN OF THE MYSTERIES.

aided in this work was called Agnishvattas. Many of

In the early ages occult knowledge was taught

edge from the unworthy. This was the condition

There were many already in possession of occult

of nature made them giants of evil. They re-

great continent, together with all followers of their

Before the overthrow of Atlantis the Mysteries

Manu, who gave to the first branch of the Aryan

nations received their mystic instruction, the mean-

our humanity developed, the great Masters grad-

THE SOURCE OF RELIGIONS.

There are two schools of thought in the modern

ings antedate, some

amounting in many cases to practical identity, denotes,

ism and Nature-worship are the soil out of which

They contend that Animalism, Fetishism, and

men, and their teachings are not surpassed (or oft-

We also find among savages many traces of

lofty ideas which are entirely beyond their capacity

It is evident that man in his infancy was not

The first great Teachers were advanced souls

the persistent and uncontradictory facts in con-

Religions, then, have their source in the Occult

REASONS FOR ESOTERICISM.

History has noted the disastrous results of spread-

Another reason for esotericism is the fact that re-

order to reach and help all, it is evident that in-

Herodotus, in speaking of the reasons why ani-

Jesus charged his disciples that they tell no

itbeing the custom of the ancients to wrap up in

Society of the Essenes, among whom were