PAGAN ORIGIN OF MYSTERIES.

Whether the word mystery is derived from the Greek muo, I close, or from mueo, I teach, is not an important question, for the word mystery has always implied the double idea of secrecy and of instruction. Kings, emperors, and even the most liberal of the legislators, seem to have believed, from the very cradle of nations, that people ought to be governed with fables, because they are too weak minded, and too ignorant to understand and bear the truth. Of all the errors which have enshrouded the human race, none has been more injurious to progress, virtue, and happiness among men. Even in our days, of all the existing governments, there is but one, if any at all, which does not place its strength upon the erroneous basis that the people, being not able to understand and bear the truth, are more easily ruled by being kept in their ignorance and superstition. This great error gave birth to mysteries.

When men constituted themselves into national bodies, they chose men, and vested them with the power of administering their interests. Those men forfeited their mandate, and became the tyrants of their constituents. In order to secure and perpetuate their sway, they associated to their personal interests hierophants, priests of all kinds, astronomers, philosophers, and poets, who composed fables, intended to have a moral bearing upon the people, and to make their masses believe them as being the truth. Those fables they called mysteries.

Egypt had her initiations, known under the name of mysteries of Osiris and Isis; from which those of Bacchus and Ceres were mostly copied. When we compare the courses and adventures of the Ceres of the Greek, with those of the Egyptian Isis, we can not but see the filiation of these two fables. The poems whose Bacchus is the hero, and the history of the Osiris, the ceremonies practiced to honor these two deities, and the identity of both acknowledged by the ancients, evidently prove that the mysteries of the latter have given birth to the former. Cybele and Atys had their initiations, and the Cabires also.

The Chinese had and still have mysteries on FoË, and Pousa; the Japanese upon Xaca and Amida; the Siamois on Sommonacodom; the Indians on Brama and Rudra; the Parsis upon Ormuzd and Ahriman. The Selles studied the mysterious words of the doves of Dodone; Persia, Ethiopia, Scythia, Gaul, and Scandinavia, had their caverns, their holy mounts, their sacred oaks, where the brahmanes, the astrologers, the gymnosophists and the druids, pronounced the inexplicable oracle of the immortals. The Mahomedans have mysteries on the miracles of Mahomet.

We hope to interest and instruct the reader in translating the following extract from the Voyage of Anacharsis, a reliable work. Anacharsis is supposed to have traveled in Greece, in the fourth century before the Christian era. He thus relates the mysteries of Eleusis:

"I shall speak of the most important point of the religion of the Athenians, of those mysteries whose origin is lost in the night of ages; whose ceremonies inspire no less terror than veneration; and whose secret has never been revealed, except by a few persons who were immediately devoted to death, and to public execration; for the law not only pronounces against them the confiscation of their property and the loss of their life, but it orders that a column be erected, to perpetuate the rememberance of their crime and of their punishment.

"Of all the mysteries established in honor of the gods, none were more celebrated than those of Ceres. This goddess herself, it is said, regulated them, while she was wandering on the earth for the purpose of finding Proserpine, ravished by Pluto, she arrived in the plain of Eleusis. Pleased with the welcome extended to her by the inhabitants, she presented them with two signaled blessings, agriculture, and initiation to a sacred doctrine. It is added, that the minor mysteries which are preparatory to the major, were instituted to the honor of Hercules.

"People believe, that, wherever the Athenians established the mysteries of Eleusis, the spirit of union and humanity became more general; because they free the soul from ignorance and stains; procure the particular assistance of the gods; the means of arriving at the perfection of virtue; the sweets of a holy life; the hope of a peaceable death, and of an endless bliss. Those initiated will occupy a distinguished place in the Elysian fields; they will enjoy a pure light, and they will dwell in the bosom of the Deity; whereas, those who are profane will dwell hereafter in abodes of darkness and of horror.

"In order to avoid such an alternative the Greeks flocked from everywhere to Eleusis to find the promised bliss. Though young, the Athenians are admitted to the ceremonies of the initiation; and those who never participated to them ask this favor before they die; the menaces and the pictures of the sufferings of another life, before considered as a subject of derision, cause a more vivid impression on the mind; and then terror generates weakness. However, there are enlightened men who do not believe that there is any need for them to be initiated in order to be virtuous. Socrates constantly declined joining the mysteries; and, one day, Diogenes being solicited, in my presence, to ask for initiation, answered: 'PatÆcion, a famous thief, was initiated; Epaminondas and Agesilas never asked for it. Can I believe that the former will go to the Elysian fields and the latter to the Tartarus.'

"All the Greeks can aspire to participate to the mysteries: an ancient law excludes the foreigners. The major mysteries are celebrated every year on the fifteenth of the month of Boedromion. The celebration of the minor mysteries is also annual, and takes place six months before. During the celebration of the major mysteries the tribunals are closed. The day following, the senate pronounces the penalty of death against those who have willfully disturbed the ceremonies. This severity is required to maintain order among the immense multitude of people. In time of war the Athenians send to their foes safe conducts to induce them to assist at the celebration.

"On the fourteenth of Boedromion, in the second year of the one hundred and ninth Olympiad, I left Athens with several of my friends. The gate through which the Athenians pass to go to Eleusis is called sacred. The space between these two cities is of about one hundred stadiums. After crossing a high hill decked with rosy laurels, we entered the territory of Eleusis; and we arrived on the banks of two small brooks consecrated, the one to Ceres, and the other to Proserpine. I mention them because the priests of the temple are the only ones who are permitted to fish in them; and because their waters are salted, and are used in the ceremonies of initiation. Farther, on the bridge of a river named Cephize, we had to bear the mockeries of a numerous populace, who stand there to criticize the comers, and more especially the most distinguished men of the Republic. It is an old tradition that Ceres had been welcomed on this very spot by an old woman, called Yambe.

"At a short distance from the sea there is a high and long hill, at the eastern end of which the famous temple of Ceres and Proserpine has been reared. Further down is the small city of Eleusis. In the vicinity, and on the hill itself, there are chapels and altars, and rich country-seats. The temple, built under the care of Pericles, on the bare rock, is of pantelic marble; and is turned towards the Orient. It is so vast as magnificent; its enclosure at the south is of about three hundred and eighty-four feet, and at the east of three hundred and twenty-five. The most celebrated artists have adorned this temple with master-pieces of art.

"Among the numerous priests who officiate in the temple, there are four principal. The first is the Hierophant; his name designates the one who reveals the sacred things, and his main office is to initiate the postulants to the mysteries. He appears with a distinguished tunic; his forehead is decked with a diadem, and his hair is floating on his shoulders. His age must be mature enough to correspond with the gravity of his ministry, and his voice fine enough to be pleasing to the ears. His priesthood is for life; and he is obliged to keep celibacy. The second priest carries the sacred flambeau in the ceremonies, and purifies the candidates; he has also the privilege of wearing a diadem. The two others are the sacred herald, and the assistant at the altar.

"The holiness of their ministry is rendered even more respectable by their noble birth. The Hierophant is chosen in the family of the Eumolpides, one of the most ancient of Athens; the sacred herald in that of the Ceryces, which is a collateral branch of the other; the two other priests belong also to illustrious families. These four priests have under their command other ministers, such as the interpreters, the singers, and other officers, who have the direction of the processions and other ceremonies. Also there are at Eleusis priestesses consecrated to Ceres and to Proserpine. They have the privilege of initiating certain persons on particular days, and to offer sacrifices.

"The celebrations are presided by the second of the Archontes, whose duty is to keep order, and to prevent any change or alteration in the worship. They last several days. Sometimes those initiated interrupt their sleep to continue their pious exercises: we saw them during the night crossing the enclosure, walking in silence two by two, and holding each one a lighted torch. When they reentered the sacred asylum they hastened their march; and I learned that they were going to figure the courses of Ceres and of Proserpine; and that, in their rapid evolutions, they shook their torches, and handed them to each other. The light which springs out, it is said, has the virtue of purifying the souls, and becomes the symbol of the light which ought to instruct them.

"One day games were celebrated in the honor of the two goddesses. Famous champions had come from various parts of Greece, and the prize was a measure of barley, raised in the neighboring plain, whose inhabitants hold from Ceres the art of cultivating this sort of wheat. On the sixth day, the most brilliant of all, the priests of the temple, and those initiated, carried from Athens to Eleusis, the statue of Iacchus, said to be the son of Ceres or of Proserpine. The god, crowned with myrtle, held a flambeau. About thirty thousand people followed, making the air resound with the name of Iacchus. The march, led by the sound of instruments and the singing of hymns, was sometimes suspended to perform dances and sacrifices. The statue was introduced in the temple of Eleusis, and then taken back in his own, with the same splendors, and the same ceremonies.

"Many of those who composed the procession had been initiated only to the minor mysteries, annually celebrated in a small temple, situated near the Illissus. There a priest examines and prepares the candidates; he excludes them if they are guilty of enormous crimes, and particularly if they have committed murder, even without purpose. He imposes upon the others frequent expiations, and teaches them the first rudiments of the sacred doctrine. This noviciate sometimes lasts several years, but generally one only. During the time of probation, the candidates assist at the celebration of the major mysteries; but they remain at the door of the temple.

"The initiation to the great mysteries had been appointed for the night following. One of the preparatory ceremonies was the offering of sacrifices, for the prosperity of the state, presided by the second of the Archontes. The novices were crowned with myrtle. Their robes seem to contract such a holiness that many of them wear them until they are worn out; others make of them swaddling-clothes for their children, or hang them in the temple. We saw them enter in the sacred hall; and, on the next morning, one of my friends, who had been newly initiated, related to me many of the ceremonies which he had witnessed.

"He told me, 'We found the ministers of the temple dressed in their pontifical robes. The Hierophant, who, in that moment, represents the author of the universe, had symbols which designated the power supreme. The flambeau-bearer and the assistant to the altar appeared with the attributes of the sun and of the moon; and the sacred herald with those of Mercury. We had just taken our seats when the herald exclaimed: 'Away from here ye profane and impious men, and all those whose souls are contaminated with crimes!' The penalty of death was decreed against those who had the temerity of remaining in the temple without being entitled to it, after this admonition. The second of the priests ordered that the skins of the victims be spread beneath our feet; and he purified us anew. The rituals of initiation were loudly read, and hymns in the honor of Ceres were sung.

"Soon after a roar was heard. The earth seemed to shake. Amid lightning and thunder phantoms and spectres were seen roaming in darkness. They filled the holy hall with soul-rending groans and howlings. Sufferings, cares, diseases, poverty, and death, under hideous forms, struck our gaze. The Hierophant explained these various emblems, and his vivid pictures added to our terror. However, guided by a feeble light, we were advancing towards the regions of the Tartarus, where the souls get purified before they reach the abode of bliss. Amidst sorrowful voices we heard the bitter regrets of those who had committed suicide. They are punished, the Hierophant said, because they have deserted the posts assigned to them by the gods.

"He had scarcely pronounced these words, when brass gates were thrown open before us with a frightful roar, and then we saw the horrors of the Tartarus. It resounded with the rattle of chains, and the yells of its unfortunate inmates. Learn from us, did they say, to respect the gods, and to be just and grateful. We saw the furies, armed with whips, unmercifully torturing the criminals. These frightening pictures, made more so by the sonorous and imposing voice of the Hierophant, who seemed to exercise the ministry of divine vengeance, filled our soul with terror. In fine, we were introduced in delightful thickets; in enameled meadows; fortunate abodes, image of the Elysean fields, where a pure light shone, where charming voices were heard. We passed into the sanctuary, where we saw the statue of the goddess resplendent with brightness, and dressed in the richest attire. In this sanctuary our trials ended; there our eyes saw, and our ears heard, what we are forbidden to reveal. I will simply confess that in the delirium of a holy joy we sung hymns of joy.'

"Such was the recital of the newly-initiated. Another told me a circumstance which the other omitted. One day, during the celebrations, the Hierophant uncovered the mysterious baskets, which are carried in the procession, and which are the object of the public veneration. They contained the sacred symbols, whose sight is prohibited to those uninitiated, and which are but cakes of various forms, grains of salt, and other objects, which relate to the history of Ceres, and to the dogmas taught in the mysteries. When those initiated have taken them from a basket, and put them in another, they say that they have fasted and drank the Ciceon.

"I often met with men who were not initiated, and who freely expressed their opinions about the secret doctrines taught in the mysteries. One of the disciples of Plato said: 'It seems to be certain that the Hierophant teaches the necessity of pains and rewards beyond the grave; and that he represents to the postulants the various destinies of men here below and hereafter. Also it seems to be certain that he teaches them, that, among the great number of deities adored by the multitude, the ones are pure spirits, who, ministers of the will of the god supreme, regulate under his command the motion of the universe; and the others have been simple mortals, whose tombs are kept yet in several parts of Greece. Is it not natural to think, that, in order to give a more accurate idea of the Deity, the institutors of mysteries endeavored to maintain, and to thus perpetuate a dogma, whose vestiges are more or less visible in the opinions, and ceremonies, of nearly all nations—that of a God, who is the principal and end of all things? Such is, in my opinion, the august secret revealed to those initiated.'

"No doubt political ends encouraged the institution of this religious association. Polytheism was generally spread, and was pleasing the people, but on account of the multiplicity of the gods it was dangerous to society. It was thought wiser not to destroy this belief, but to counterbalance it by a purer religion. As the people are more restrained by the laws than by abstract principles of morals, the legislators contrived to harmonize the superstition of the people with purer religious and moral principles, which they should simultaneously teach. 'Thus,' the disciple of Plato added, 'you understand why the gods are represented on the theatre of Athens: the magistrates who do not believe the false doctrines of Polytheism are very careful not to repress a superstition and a license, which amuse the people, and whose repression would indispose them.

"'Also you understand how two religions, though opposed in their dogmas, conjointly exist in peace and harmony in the same cities. The reason of it is, that, though their dogmas are different, these religions use the same language, and that the truth has for the error the same tolerance, and courtesy, which the truth should obtain from the error. Externally the mysteries present but the worship adopted by the people. The hymns sung in public, and the most of the ceremonies retrace to the masses many circumstances of the rape of Proserpine, of the courses of Ceres, of her arrival and sojourn at Eleusis. The vicinity of this city is full of monuments reared in the honor of the goddess, and the priests show, as yet, the stone upon which, tradition relates, she rested when exhausted with fatigue. Thus, on one hand, the ignorant people believe appearances as if they were realities; and on another hand, those who have been initiated, having a clear sight of the spirit of the mysteries, think they are right on account of the purity of their intentions.'

"Whatever it may be of the supposition I have related, the initiation is now but a vain ceremony. Those who have been initiated are not more virtuous than the others; every day they violate their pledge of abstaining from fowl, from fish, from pomegranates, from beans, and several other kinds of fruits, and of vegetables. Several have contracted this sacred engagement through unworthy means; for, not long ago, we have seen the government permitting the sale of the privilege of participating to the mysteries; and, for a long while, women of ill fame have been admitted to initiation."

As it would require volumes to describe the ceremonies of all these Pagan mysteries, we shall only examine their general character; show forth their end; group together their common features, and glance at the means used by political and religious leaders, to give a full scope to this powerful governmental engine.

The mysteries of Eleusis, and in general of all mysteries, aimed at the amelioration of mankind, at the reformation of morals, and at taking hold of the souls of men with more power than through the means of the laws. If the means used was not lawful, we must however confess that the aim was laudable, not in the minds of kings, emperors, hierophants and other priests, but in itself. Cicero, the illustrious Roman orator, said, that the institution of mysteries was one of the most useful to humanity; at least the mysteries of Eleusis, whose effects, he added, have been to civilize nations; to soften the barbarous and ferocious habits and morals of the first societies of men; and to make known the most important principles of morals, which initiate man to a sort of life that is worthy of his nature.

The same was said of Orpheus, who introduced in Greece the mysteries of Bacchus. Poets wrote of him, that he had tamed tigers and lions; and that he attracted even trees and rocks with the melodious strains of his lyre. Mysteries aimed at the establishment of the reign of justice and of religion, in the system of the rulers, who, from policy, maintained the one by the other. This double end is contained in this verse of Virgil:—"Learn from me to respect justice and the gods;" this was the great lesson given by the Hierophant when the postulants were initiated.

Those initiated learned in those profound sanctuaries, under the dark and deep veil of fables, their duties towards their fellow men; pretended duties which they were taught to the gods, and, more unfortunately yet, pretended duties towards their political and religious leaders, or rather tyrants.

Rulers used all imaginable means to give a supernatural character to their laws, and to make the people believe that they had this character. The imposing picture of the universe, and the poetry of mythological conceptions, gave to the legislators the subject of the varied and wonderful scenes which were represented in the temples of Egypt, of Asia, and of Greece. All that can produce illusion, all the resources of witchcraft and of theatrical exhibitions, which were but the secret knowledge of the effects of nature, and the art of imitating them; the brilliant pomp of festivities; the variety and riches of decorations and costumes; the majesty of the ceremonial; the captivating power of music; the choirs; the chants; the dances; the electrifying sounds of cymbals, calculated to produce enthusiasm and delirium, and more favorable to religious exaltation than the calm of reason, all was brought to action to attract the people to the celebration of the mysteries; and to create in their souls a want, a desire for them.

Under the charms of pleasure, of rejoicings and of celebrations, legislators and other rulers oftentimes concealed a salutary aim; and they treated the people like a child, which can never be more efficaciously instructed, than when he thinks that his preceptor intends only to amuse him. They resorted to great institutions to shape society; to form habits; and to direct public opinion and morals.

How magnificent was the procession of those initiated advancing to the temple of Eleusis! The banners, the sacred chants, the music, the costumes, and the dances, had a rapturous effect on the masses. They thronged an immense temple; we say immense, for if we judge the number of those initiated by the number of those who assembled in the plains of Thriase, when Xerxes went to Attic, they were more than thirty thousand. The costly and glowing ornaments which decked the vast hall, the symbolic statues, which were master-pieces of sculpture, and the mysterious pictures which were symmetrically arranged in the rotunda of the sanctuary, filled the soul with amazement, and with a religious respect.

All that was seen in the temple, the decorations, costumes, ceremonies, splendor; and all that was heard, the sacred chants, the melody of instruments, the mythological teaching, the elevating poetry and the eloquence of orators, struck the spectators with wonder, produced and left in their souls the most profound impressions. Not only the universe was presented to their gaze under the emblem of an egg divided into twelve parts, representing the months of the year, but also the division of the universe into cause active and cause passive, and its division into the Principle of light, or good god, and the Principle of darkness, or bad god.

Varron informs us that the great gods adored at Samothrace were the heaven and the earth, considered, the first as the cause active, and the second as the cause passive of generation. In other mysteries the same idea was retraced by the exposition of the Phallus and of the Cteis. It is the Lingham of the Indians.

The same was done in regard to the division of the world into two Principles, the one of light, or good god, and the other of darkness, or bad god. Plutarch writes, that this religious dogma had been consecrated in the initiations, and in the mysteries of all nations; and the example which he puts forth, extracted from both the theology of the Chaldeans, and from the dogma of the symbolic egg produced by these two Principles, is a proof of it. In the temple of Eleusis there were scenes of darkness and of light, which were successively presented to the eyes of the candidates to initiation: those scenes retraced the combats of the Principle of light, or good god, and of the Principle of darkness, or bad god.

In the cavern of the god Sun, or Mithra, the priests had represented, among the mysterious pictures of the initiation, the descent of the souls to the earth, and their return to the heavens through the seven planetary spheres. Also were exhibited the phantoms of invisible powers, which chained them to bodies, or freed them from their bonds. Several millions of men witnessed those various spectacles, of which they were most severely forbidden to speak before the public. However the poets, the orators, and the historians give us in their writings some idea of what were those scenes, formulas, ceremonies, fables, and morals,—as, for instance, in what they have written about the adventures of Ceres, and of her daughter. There was seen the chariot of this goddess drawn by dragons; it seemed to hover above the earth and the seas. It was a true theatrical exhibition. The variety of the scenes was pleasing, and the play of machines was attractive. Grave were the actors, majestic the ceremonial, and passion-stirring the fables and representations.

The hierophants, or priests, profoundly versed in the knowledge of the genius of the people, and in the art of leading them, availed of the minutest circumstances to create in them the desire to be initiated to their mysteries. Night seems to be the mother of secrecy and the emblem of mystery; it is favorable to prestige and illusion; in consequence they celebrated their mysteries in the night. The fifth day of the celebration of the mysteries of Eleusis was renowned by the superb torchlight procession, in which those initiated, holding each one a bright torch, walked two by two wearing enigmatic emblems.

It was during the night, that the Egyptians solemnly and processionally went to the shore of a lake; they embarked, and landed in an island beautifully situated in the middle of the lake; and there they celebrated the mysteries of the passion of Osiris. At other times those celebrations took place in vast and dark grottos, or in retired and shady thickets. Even now, in France, are seen caverns where the Druids celebrated their mysteries; and forests where the Gauls assembled at midnight; hung the heads of their vanquished enemies; immolated a young virgin on the altar of Teutates; and celebrated their mysteries under the leadership of the Druids.

The ceremonial of the mysteries was ordained, particularly among the civilized and populous nations, in such a manner that it could not fail to excite the curiosity of the people, who naturally eagerly desire and seek to know what is held in secrecy. Legislators and hierophants rendered this curiosity more intense by the extremely stringent law of secrecy imposed upon those initiated. Thus the profane, namely, those uninitiated, were the more desirous to be acquainted with the mysteries, and thus they joined them in large numbers. Legislators gave to this spirit of secrecy the most specious pretext. It was proper, they said, to imitate the gods who concealed themselves from man's gaze, for the purpose of creating in his soul the desire to find them; and who have made the phenomena of nature a profound secret to them, in order to stimulate them to the study of the universe. Those initiated were not permitted to speak of the mysteries except among themselves. The penalty of death had been decreed against the one who would have revealed them, even without purpose; and also against any one who would have entered the sacred temple before having been previously initiated.

Aristoteles was accused of impiety by the hierophant Eurymedon, for having sacrificed to the manes of his wife, according to the rite practiced in the worship of Ceres. He had to flee, and to retire at Chalcis to save his life; and in order to clear his name from this stain he ordered his heirs to erect a statue to Ceres. Eschyles, having been charged with having written about mysterious subjects, saved his life only by proving that he had never been initiated. The entry of the temple of Ceres, and the participation to her mysteries, were prohibited to the slaves, and to those whose birth was not legal; to women of ill fame, to the philosophers who denied a Providence, such as the Epicureans, etc. This interdiction was considered as a great deprivation, for it was generally believed among the people that initiation was the greatest blessing.

In fact, those initiated were taught that they belonged to a class of privileged beings, and were the favorites of the gods. The priests of Samothrace credited their initiation by promising favorable winds, a speedy and safe navigation to travelers who were candidates to their mysteries. Those initiated to the mysteries of Orpheus believed that they were no longer under the rule of the evil principle; that initiation made them holy, and secured to them future happiness. After the ceremonies of the initiation the candidate thus answered to the priest: "I have rejected the evil and found the good." After that he considered himself, and was considered by his fellows, wholly purified.

Those who were initiated to the mysteries of Eleusis believed that the sun shone brighter and purer to their eyes than to the sight of other men; also that the goddesses inspired and gave them counsels from the heaven, as seen by the example of Pericles. Initiation was considered as freeing the soul from the darkness of error; as preventing misfortunes; and as securing happiness on earth.

One of the greatest blessings and privileges of the initiation, the hierophant and other priests taught, was to secure here below a direct communion with the gods, and more especially beyond the grave. According to Cicero, Isocrates, and the rhetor Aristides, when he who had been initiated departed from this earthly life he inhabited meadows enameled with flowers of a celestial beauty, and lighted with a sun brighter and purer than the one we see. In that charming abode he was to live centuries, and long preserve his youth. When arrived at an old age, he was to become young again. There was no labor, no sorrow, but all was rapture and delight.

In the Greek and Roman mysteries the unity and also the trinity of God were consecrated dogmas. Jupiter was adored as the father of the gods and of men, and as filling the whole universe with his power. He was the supreme monarch of nature: the names of gods ascribed to the other deities were more of an association in the title than in the nature of their power, for each one of them had a particular work to perform under the command of the supreme God. In the mysteries of the religion of the Greeks, a hymn expressing the unity of God or Jupiter was sung; and the High Priest, turning towards the worshipers, said: "Admire the master of the universe; he is one; he is everywhere." It was acknowledged by Eusebius, St. Augustine, Lactance, Justin, Athenagoras, and many other Fathers of the Church, that the dogma of the unity of God was admitted by ancient philosophers, and was the basis of the religion of Orpheus, and of all the mysteries of the Greeks.

The Platonicians believed in the unity of the archetype, or model on which God formed the world; also they believed in the unity of demiourgos, or god-forming, by a consequence of the same philosophical principles, namely, from the unity itself of the universe, as can be seen in Proclus, and in the writings of the Platonician authors.

Trinity also, (see chapter fifth) was taught in the mysteries. Pythagoras, and many other philosophers, explained the unity and trinity of God by the theory of numbers. They called the monade cause, or principle. They expressed by the number one, or unit, the first cause, and they concluded to the unity of God from mathematical abstractions. Next to this unity they placed triades, which expressed faculties or powers emanated from them, and also intelligences of a second order. The triple incarnation of the god Wichnou into the body of a virgin was one of the doctrines taught in the mysteries of Mithra.

So much for the mysteries of Paganism; however, we shall, in the course of this work, refer to them several times. Let us now examine the origin of the mysteries, which, the Partialists say, Jesus Christ has taught. Mysteries suppose secrecy; but Jesus Christ preached his Gospel in the open air to his apostles, to his disciples, to crowds of people, and to all who were willing to hear his doctrines. He urged upon his disciples to preach above the roofs what he taught them. When, after his death, his apostles spread his gospel, they spoke in open air, everywhere, to masses of people; Paul to the Areopagus, to thousands in Jerusalem, etc. How then can it be supposed that Jesus Christ taught mysteries? Indeed, he did not, but afterwards several Christian churches did.

The Protestant historian, Mosheim, cites in his History of the Church, several authors, who state, that, in the second century, several Christian churches imitated the mysteries of Paganism. The profound respect, they say, that the people entertained for those mysteries, and the extraordinary sacredness ascribed to them were for the Christians a motive sufficient to give a mysterious appearance to their religion, so as to command as much respect to the public as the religion of the Pagans. To this effect they called mysteries the institutions of the Gospel, particularly the Eucharist. They used in this ceremony, and in that of baptism, several words and rites consecrated in the mysteries of the Pagans. This abuse commenced in Orient, chiefly in Egypt; Clement of Alexandria, in the beginning of the third century, was one of those who contributed the most to this innovation, which then spread in Occident when Adrian had introduced the mysteries in that portion of the Empire. Hence, a large portion of the service of the Church hardly differed from that of Paganism.

That the Church of Rome copied many of the ceremonies, rites, customs, and fables of Pagan mysteries is certain, for they have been perpetuated in that Church down to our days. From the Pagan mysteries the Roman Church borrowed the following:

In the initiation to the Pagan mysteries there were degrees; so in the Roman Church there are the degrees of porter or door-keeper, of acolyte, of reader and of exorcist; the latter degree confers the power of expelling the devil. The ecclesiastical ornaments in the Church of Rome, with the difference of the cross represented on them and of some trimming, are like those used in the mysteries of the Pagans, at least in Rome, and in Greece. The long floating gown, the girdle, the casula, the stola, the dalmatica, the round and pyramidal cap, the capa, and several other garments and ornaments, are alike to those used in the temples, where the mysteries of the Pagans were celebrated.

In those temples there was an altar richly decorated; so it is in the Church of Rome. In those temples there were twelve flambeaux, representing the twelve months of the year: so there are in Catholic churches, upon the first degree above the altar, six chandeliers with six tapers burning during the celebration of the mysteries or mass; six others are on the second degree. The vestals kept a light constantly burning in the Pagan temples: so a lamp is kept burning, day and night, near the altar, in the Catholic churches. In the Pagan temples the disc of the sun and his beams were represented: so they are in the Catholic churches. Upon the altar, in the Pagan temples, there was an image of the god Osiris or Bacchus, and the emblems of an aries or lamb: so upon the altar, in Catholic churches, there is a tabernacle in which God is said to dwell, and the door of the tabernacle represents a bleeding lamb.

The Pagans solemnly and processionally carried the image of Osiris, or Bacchus, around the head of which there was a halo representing the rays of the sun: so in the Romish church the priests processionally and with great pomp, carry, both in the aisles of the churches and on the streets, a wafer which they call God. It is encased in a silver or gold ostenserium, whose circular centre, in which their pretended God is seen between two crystals, is shaped like the disc of the sun; and the outside, of which called halo or glory, is shaped like his rays. In the Pagan temples there was a sanctuary exclusively reserved to the high-pontiff, and to the priests: so it is in the Catholic churches. In the Pagan temples the sanctuary was turned towards the Orient: so it is in the Catholic churches.

The Pagans did not permit their candidates to initiation to assist at the celebration of the mysteries, which was always preceded by this formula, solemnly and loudly spoken by an officer, "Away from here ye profane and impious men, and all those whose soul is contaminated with crimes!" So in Catholic churches, not now, but from the first centuries down to the middle age, the deacon arose after the homily, turned toward the assistant, and ordered the catechumens to leave the church, because the celebration of the mysteries was to commence. Those mysteries are the mass, during which the priest who officiates commands Jesus Christ to descend from heaven into a wafer, which he, (priest,) holds in his hands, and to change it into his own blood, flesh, soul, and divinity. The Pagans initiated the candidates near the front door of their temples: so in the Catholic churches, the baptismal fonts where the catechumens are initiated, namely, baptized, are placed near the portal. Here we shall remark, that, for many centuries, children are baptized, (even now parents are obliged under the pain of mortal sin to have their children taken to the church to be baptized) three days after they are born. The Pagans initiated candidates chiefly on the eve of great celebrations: so, in the Romish church, catechumens are baptized chiefly on the eve of Easter, and of Pentecost.

The Pagans believed that initiation made them holy; so the Romish church holds that baptism remits the original and all other sins, and makes holy. The Pagans revered in their temples the statue of Pan, in whose hands was a seven-pipe flute; also, they revered other emblems of the seven planets: so in the Romish Church holds the doctrine of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and of the doctrine of the seven sacraments. In the month of February the Pagans celebrated the Lupercales, and the feast of Proserpine: so the Church of Rome celebrates the Candlemas-day. We cite the very words of Bergier, a Catholic priest, and an ultra Papist, who writes thus in his Theological Dictionary; article Candlemas:

"Several authors ascribe the institution of Candlemas-day to the pope Gelase, for the purpose of opposing it to the Lupercales of the Pagans, who went processionally out in the fields making exorcisms. It is the opinion of the venerable Bede. 'The Church,' he says, 'has happily changed the lustrations of the Pagans, which took place in February around the fields. She has substituted to them processions, in which the people carry in their hands burning tapers.' Others ascribe this institution to the pope Vigil, and say that it has been substituted to the feast of Proserpine, which the Pagans celebrated in the first days of February with torches.'

The Pagans worshiped Juno as the wife of the god Jupiter: so the Church of Rome worships the virgin Mary as the wife of God. The Pagans celebrated the exaltation of the virgo or virgin, the sixth sign and seventh constellation in the ecliptic; so the Romish Church has established the feast of Assumption, namely, of the ascension of the virgin Mary to heaven. The Pagans made solemn processions to honor the goddess Ceres; so the Romish Church has instituted pompous processions in the honor of the virgin Mary.

Remark.—All the above institutions and doctrines of the Romish Church, and also those which we shall examine in the following chapters, date from the first centuries. All the Catholic doctors, theologians, and historians, confess it.

From the numerous and undeniable historical facts summed up in this chapter we legitimately draw the conclusions, 1st. That, in the first centuries of the Christian era, the Church of Rome established mysteries; 2d. That the Church of Rome borrowed her mysteries from the mysteries of the Pagans; and, 3d. That a law of secrecy was binding the catechumens after their initiation, though this law was not so stringent as it was among the Pagans.

When, in the sixteenth century, the Protestants shook the yoke of the Pope, they rejected many of the mysteries of the Church of Rome; however, they kept several of them, such as the mystery of Trinity, namely, of three Gods composing but one God; the mystery of incarnation, namely of God himself descending from the heavens, vesting our mortal clay in the womb of a woman for the purpose of being persecuted and slain on a cross by men, thus pay to himself the debt owed to him by men who had disobeyed him, (though they did not live yet,) in the person of Adam. These, we say, and other mysteries of the Romish Church, the Protestants or Heterodox in the opinion of the Catholics, preserved and transmitted them to their sons, or Partialists, who now call the Roman Catholics heathens; call the liberal Christian Churches heterodox, and call themselves most emphatically Evangelical Churches, Orthodox Churches.

The final and strictly logical conclusion of this chapter is this:

Therefore the mysteries of the Romish Church, and those of the self-called Orthodox Protestant Churches, are of Pagan origin.

Corollary. Since mysteries are of Pagan origin, and since Jesus Christ and his apostles did not establish mysteries, there ought not to be mysteries in Christianity. Since Jesus Christ and his apostles preached the Gospel in open air to all, everywhere, there cannot be any mysteries in their teaching, and there cannot be any mysteries in their writings, we mean in the New Testament.