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was the absolving formula, whenever any one was resolved to give a loose to his passions. And the licentious rites, in the open worship of their gods, gave still greater encouragement to these conclusions. Plato, in his book of laws, forbids drinking to excess; unless, says he, during the feast of Bacchus, and in honor of that god. And Aristotle, in his politics, having blamed all lewd and obscene images and pictures, excepts those of the gods, which religion had sanctified.

Now the mysteries professed to exact nothing difficult of the initiated, which they would not assist him to perform. It was necessary, then, to remedy this evil; which they did by striking at the root of it. So that, such of the initiated as were judged capable, were made acquainted with the whole delusion. The mystagogue taught them, that Jupiter, Mercury, Bacchus, Venus, Mars, and the whole rabble of licentious deities, were only dead mortals, subject in life to the same passions and infirmities with themselves, but having been, on other accounts, benefactors to mankind, grateful posterity had deified them, and, with their virtues, had indiscreetly cannonized their

The fabulous gods being thus routed, the supreme cause of all things naturally took their place. Him they were taught to consider as the creator of the universe, who pervaded all things by his virtue, and governed all by his providence. But here it must be observed, that the discovery of this supreme cause was made consistent with the notion of local tutelary deities, beings superior to men, and inferior to God, and by him set over the several parts of his creation. This was an opinion universally holden by antiquity, and never brought into question by any theist. What the aporreta overthrew, was the vulgar polytheism, the worship of dead men. From this time, the initiated had the title of Epoptes, by which was meant one that sees things as they are and without disguise; whereas, before he was called Mystes, which has a contrary signification.

But besides the prevention of vice, the detection of the national gods

and in the fifth act of Hercules Furens, Theseus comforts his friend by the examples of the crimes of the gods. See likewise his Hyppolitus, act. ii. sc. ii. The learned and ingenious Mr. Seward, in his tract of the conformity between popery and paganism, has taken notice of a difficult passage in this tragedy, which he has very ably explained, on the system here delivered of the detection of Polytheism in the sacred mysteries.

*When St. Austin, (Civ. de, lib. ii. cap. 7. 8) had quoted the Ego homunico hoc non facerem, to show what mischief these stories did to the morals of the people; he makes the defenders of paganism reply, that it was true, but then these things were only taught in the fables of the poets, which an attention to the mysteries would rectify; this the father cannot deny; but observes however, that in the then corrupt state of the mysteries the remedy was become part of the disease; "Nolo dicere illa mystica quam ista theatrica esse turpiora."

had another important use, which was to excite men to heroic virtue, by showing them what honors the benefactors of nations had acquired, by the free exercise of it. And this, as will be shown hereafter, was the chief reason why princes, statesmen, and leaders of colonies and armies all aspired to be partakers of the greater mysteries.

Thus we see, how what was taught and required in the lesser mysteries, became the foundation of instruction in the greater; the obligation to a good life there, made it necessary to remove the errors of vulgar polytheism here; and the doctrine of a providence taught previously in those, facilitated the reception of the sole cause of all things, when finally revealed in these. Such were the truths which Varro as quoted above, tells us it was expedient for the people to know.* He supposed, indeed, the error of vulgar polytheism to be so inveterate, that it was not to be expelled without throwing society into convulsions, But Plato spoke out, he owned it to be "difficult to find the father and creator of the universe; and, when found, impossible to discover him to all the world."-(In Timeo.)

Besides, there was another reason why the institutors of the mysteries, who were lawgivers, should be for keeping this truth a secret. They had had, themselves, the chief hand in the rise of vulgar polytheism. They contrived it for the sake of the state, and to keep the people in awe, under a greater veneration for their laws. This polytheism the poets had depraved, by inventing or recording vicious stories of the gods and heroes, which the lawgivers were willing to have stifled. And they were only such stories, that, in their opinion, as may be seen in Plato, made Polytheism hurtful to the state.

That this accounts for the secret in the greater mysteries, is no precarious hypothesis, raised merely on conjecture, I shall now endeavior to show.

First, from the clear evidence of antiquity, which expressly informs us of these two particulars. That the errors of polytheism were detected, and the doctrine of the unity taught and explained in the mysteries. But here it is to be observed, that when the ancients speak of mysteries indefinitely, they generally mean the greater.

These two were the truths which the pontifex Scævola, said were to be kept hid from the people. "It is recorded in books that Scævola, a very learned pontiff, argued that three kinds of gods had been handed down to us, one by the poets, another by the philosophers, the third by the rulers of the state. The first kind he says is worthlessthe second not suitable for commonwealths, because it contains certain things, the knowledge of which is prejudicial to the people. What then are those things which are prejudicial to the multitude? "These," he says, "that Hercules, Esculapius, Castor, Pollux, are not gods, but were men who departed human life.-Augustin de Civit. Dei, lib. iv. cap. 27.

*

It hath been shown, that the Grecian and Asiatic Mysteries came originally from Egypt. Now, of the Egyptian, St. Austin giveth us this remarkable account. "Of the same nature, too, are those things which Alexander of Macedon wrote to his mother, as revealed unto him by one Leo, chief hierophant of the Egyptian mysteries, whereby it appeared, that not only such as Picus, and Faunus, and Eneas, and Romulus, nay Hercules, and Esculapius, and Bacchus the son of Semele, and Castor, and Pollux, and all others of the same rank, had been advanced, from the condition of mortality, into gods, but that even those deities of the higher order, the Dii majorum gentium, those whom Cicero without naming seems to carp at, in his Tusculans, such as Jupiter, Juno, Saturn, Neptune, Vulcan, Vesta, and many others, whom Varro endeavors to allegorize into the elements or parts of the world, were, in truth, only mortal men. But the priest being under great fears and apprehensions, while he was telling this, as conscious he was betraying the secret of the mysteries, begged of Alexander, when he found that he intended to communicate it to his mother, that he would enjoin her to burn the letter, as soon as she had read it.Ӡ

To understand the concluding part, we are to know, that Cyprian, who has also preserved this curious anecdote, tells us, it was the dread of Alexander's power, which extorted the secret from the hierophant.‡ All this well illustrates a passage in Lucian's council of the gods; when after Momus had ridiculed the monstrous deities of Egypt, Jupiter replies, "it is true that these are abominable things, which you mention of the Egyptian worship. But then, consider, Momus, that

It is not improbable but this might be a name of office. Porphyry in his fourth book of abstinence, informs us that the priests of the mysteries of Mithras were called lions the priestesses lionesses, and the inferior ministers ravens. For there was a great conformity, in the practices and ceremonies of the several mysteries, throughout the whole pagan world. And this conjecture is supported by a passage in Eunapius, which seems to say, that it was unlawful to reveal the name of the hierophant.

In the modern degree of masonry, called knight of the Eagle, and sovereign prince of Rose Cross de Heroden, the aspirant "solemnly promises on his honor, never to reveal the place where he was received, who received him, nor those who were present at his reception."

Also in the degree of "knight of Kadosh," "when a reception is made, the great commander remains alone in the chapter with the candidate, and must be so situated that the latter cannot see him, as he is not to know who initiates him." (Bernard.)—Edit. +I suppose this communication to his mother, might be to let her understand, that he was no longer the dupe of her fine story of Jupiter's intrusion, and the intrigue of his divine original. For Erastosthenes, according to Plutarch, says, that Olympias, when she brought Alexander on his way to the army, in his first military expedition, acquainted him in private with the secret of his birth; and exhorted him to behave himself as became the son of Jupiter Hammon. This, I suppose, Alexander might tell to the priest and so the murder came out.

But this is a mistake, at least it is expressed inaccurately. What was extorted by the dread of Alexander's power, was not the secret, which the initiated had a right to, but the priest's consent that he should communicate the secret to another, which was contrary to the laws of the mysteries.

much of it is enigmatical; and so, consequently, a very unfit subject for the buffoonry of the profane and uninitiated." To which the other answers with much spirit, "Yes, indeed, we have great occasion for the mysteries, to know that gods are gods, and monsters, monsters."

But Tully brings the matter home to the Eleusinian mysteries themselves, "What, says he, is not almost all heaven, not to carry on this detail any further, filled with the human race? But if I should search and examine antiquity, and from those things which the Grecian writers have delivered, go to the bottom of this affair, it would be found, that even those very gods themselves who are deemed the Dii majorum gentium, had their original here below; and ascended from hence into heaven. Inquire, to whom those sepulchers belong, which are so commonly shown in Greece. Remember, for you are initiated, what you have been taught in the mysteries; you will then at length understand how far this matter may be carried.-(Tusc. Disp, lib. i. cap. 13.

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He carries it further himself, for he tells us in another place, that not only the Eleusinian Mysteries, but the Samothracian likewise, and the Lemnian taught the error of polytheism, agreeably to this system, which supposes all the mysteries derived from the same original, and constituted for the same ends. What think you, says he, of those who assert, that valiant, or famous, or powerful men, have obtained divine honors after death, and that these are the very gods, now become the object of our worship, our prayers and adoration? Euhemerus tells us, when these gods died, and where they lie buried. I forbear to speak of the sacred and august rights of Eleusis-I pass by Samothrace, and the mysteries of Lemnos, whose hidden rites are celebrated in darkness, and amidst the thick shades of groves and forests."

Here the author comments at considerable length on an equivocal passage of Cicero, immediately following that here quoted, "which, he says, M. Pluche, in his Histoire du Ciel, brings to prove, that the purpose of the mysteries was not to explain the nature of the gods." His criticism goes to show the absurdity of this inference. He thus concludes his remarks:

"It had hardly been worth while to take this notice of M. Pluche's interpretation of Cicero, had it not been evident, that his purpose in it was to disguise the liberty he took of transcribing the general explanation of the mysteries, as delivered in the first edition of this volume, printed in 1738, into the second edition of his book, called Histoire du Ciel, printed in 1741, without the least notice or acknowledgment."

That Mr. Pluche may have taken some of his ideas on the mysteries from the bishop's book, is highly probable, but his work certainly possesses sufficient originality to prove

the laborious investigations of the author, upon ground not previously occupied, to establish his fame as an ingenious acute writer. In the disagreement of these authors in regard to the purport of the mysteries, the bishop has undoubtedly the advantage: he had evidently paid more attention to the subject than his cotemporary. The abbé was deceived by Cicero, in whom he appeared to place implicit confidence; but he should have remembered, that Cicero had been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, and, therefore, no doubt, felt under restraint when speaking of them. Besides, he had four characters to sustain; that of a philosopher, a statesman, a lawyer, and an augur or priest; in the due support of which, his popularity was, more or less, involved. A striking instance of the incompatibility with each other of the first and last mentioned of these characters, is exhibited by him, in the passage just quoted above and that before cited, in which he says, "Let the gods, and those who were ever reckoned in the number of the celestials, be worshipped: and those likewise, whom their merits have raised to heaven; such as Hercules, Bacchus, Esculapius, Pollux, and Romulus." Here the augur and the philosopher are at complete issue. Two sentiments more directly in opposition could not be entertained; and it is surprising the bishop did not notice their total contrariety.

What hath been said, will let us into the meaning of Plutarch's hint, in the following words of his tract concerning the ceasing of oracles. "As to the mysteries, in whose representations the true nature of demons is clearly and accurately held forth, a sacred silence, to use an expression of Herodotus, is to be observed."

Thus far in detection of polytheism. With regard to the doctrine of the unity, Clemens Alexandrinus informs us, that the Egyptian mystagogues taught it amongst their greater secrets. "The Egyptians," says he, "did not use to reveal their mysteries indiscriminately to all, nor expose their truths concerning their gods to the profane, but to those only who were to succeed to the administration of the state: and to such of the priests as were most approved, by their education, learning, and quality."

But, to come to the Grecian mysteries. Chrysippus, as quoted by the author of the Etymol. magnum, speaks to this purpose. "And Chrysippus says, that the secret doctrines concerning divine matters, are rightly called Teletai, for that these are the last things the initiated should be informed of: the soul having gained an able support; and, being possessed of her desires, (that is, the mistress of herself,) can keep silent before the uninitiated and profane." To the same purpose, Clemens: "The doctrines delivered in the greater mysteries, are concerning the universe. Here all instruction ends. Things are seen as they are; and nature, and the things of nature, are given to be comprehended."

Strabo having said, that nature dictated to men the institution of the mysteries, as well as the other rites of religion, gives this remarkable

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