The Ancient Mysteries And Modern Freemasonry-Their Analogies Considered.

the plot were identical , and the dramatic form , the theatrical representation of the allegory , was everywhere preserved . This dramatic form of the rites in the Mysteries—this acted allegory in which the doctrine of the resurrection was inculcated bv the

visible representation of some fictitious history—was , as the learned Dr . Dollinger has justly observed , " eminently calculated to take a powerful hold on the imagination and the heart , and to excite in the spectators , alternately , conflicting sentiments of terror and calmness , sorrow and fear and hope . "

Now , the recognised fact that this mode of inculcating a philosophical or religious idea by a dramatic representation would naturally lead to its adoption by all other associations , where the same lesson was to be inculcated as that taught in the Ancient Mysteries . The tendency to dramatise an allegory is universal , because it is the most expedient , and has proved to be the most successful . The drama of the third , or Master ' s degree of

Masonry is , as respects the subject and the development of the plot and the conduct of the scenes , the same as the drama of the Ancient Mysteries . There is the same thanatos , the same aphanism , or concealment of the body , and the same euresis , or discovery of it . The drama of the third degree , like the drama of the Mysteries , begins in sorrow and ends in joy . Everything is so similar that we at once recognise another analogy between the Ancient Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry .

The facts that in both the Mysteries and Freemasonry there was a solemn obligation of secrecy , with penalties for its violation , and that the members of both were in possession of certain methods of recognition , known only to themselves , constitute other analogies between these two systems , but which may be safely attributed to the fact that such peculiarities are and always

will be the necessary adjuncts of any secret organisation , whether religious , social or political . In every secret society , isolated from the rest of mankind , we must find , as a natural outgrowth , and as a neccessary means of defence and isolation , an obligation of secrecy and a method of recognition . On such analogies it is , therefore , scarcely worth while to dilate .

Finally , I have to speak of an analogy between the Ancient Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry which is not only important as showing an identity of design and method in the two systems , but is also peculiarly interesting . I allude to the division—call it what you may , either steps , classes or degrees—to which both were subjected . In the progress from the lowest to the highest

arcana , from the mere inception to the full accomplishment of the instruction , the aspirant in the Ancient Mysteries , as in Modern Freemasonry , passed through three gradations , and , as it were , ascended three steps of a mystical ladder , by which , beginning at the foundation , he finally reached the summit or full fruition of all knowledge . These three steps , grades or divisions of the

aspirant ' s progress were , in the Mysteries of antiquity , as they still are in the Freemasonry of the present day , Lustration , Initiation , and Perfection . Through these three steps of gradual progress in the course of instruction every aspirant in the Ancient Mysteries was compelled to pass , and similar steps of advancement , whatever may be the name by which they are designated , has the candidate in Freemasonry to ascend .

Lustration is the ceremony of purification by water . In the Christian system , where the rite was borrowed directly from the Jewish religion , it is called " Baptism , " and the same word has recently been appropriated by certain ritualists , to the ceremony of lustration in the higher degrees of Masonry . But such an application of the word is , I think , inexpedient and improper ,

because it may lead to a misconception and needlessly give offence to some who think that the word " baptism" should be confined to a strictly religious use . I prefer , therefore , the term " lustration , " which was always used in the Ancient Mysteries . It must , however , be admitted that the ceremony of baptism , under the name of lustration , is very much older than Christianity .

It was practiced , as everybody knows , by the Hebrews , who , by its use , introduced and consecrated their proselytes or new converts . It was in use as a ceremony of purification in all the Ancient Mysteries , from India to Egypt and Greece , and even in Gaul , in Britain and in Scandinavia , very long before the solemn day when St . John consecrated Christ to His life-work by the

same sacred sign . Lustration was , in the Ancient Mysteries , the symbol of purification , and hence it was the preparatory step previous to initiation . Water , from its natural cleansing quality , has in all ages and in all countries been deemed a symbol of purity . It was undoubtedly with respect to this quality that it was adopted by Christianity as a sign of entrance into the church . It is true that to this was also added , by the ceremony of total

immersion , as practiced in the primitive church , the symbolism of a burial and a resurrection in Christ . But the first idea was that of symbolic purification suggested by the purifying or cleansing virtue of the element used in the ceremony . This was surely the predominating thought in the mind of St . John the Baptist when he said , on the banks of the Jordan , " I indeed baptise you with water , but He that comes after me is mightier than I , and He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit . I indeed give

The Ancient Mysteries And Modern Freemasonry-Their Analogies Considered.

you the symbol of purification ; I teach you by this washing of the body the necessity that the soul should be washed clean from all sin , but He who comes after me will , by His mightier power , go beyond the symbol , and will , not with water , but with the power of the Spirit of God , purify and cleanse your hearts . "

With the same original idea of purification , the ceremony of the bath was practiced on the introduction of the Orders of Chivalry . The new knight was required to bathe , and special reference was made in its explanation to the Christian sacrament ; for , as Sir Hugh of Tiberias says , in the medieval poem which bears his name , that " as the infant comes out of the baptismal font pure from sin , so should the new knight come out of the bath without any villainy or impurity . "

The Jews and the Mohammedans invariably practice this ceremony of ablution or lustration on all important occasions , and especially before addressing the Deity in prayer . Throughout the Scriptures clean hands are the symbol of purity of heart . David , for instance , says that " he only shall ascend into the hill of the Lord , or shall in His holy place , who hath clean hands

and a pure heart . " And in another place he declares that before attending on the altar of Jehovah he will " wash his hands in innocence . " The same symbol was well known to the heathen poets . Thus , as a single instance , Hector is made by Homer to say that he " dreads to bring the urns of incense as an offering to

Jove with unwashed hands . " It is not , therefore , surprising that the aspirant in the Mysteries underwent an ablution or purification of the body by washing , as a sign of that purification of the heart which was essentially necessary for all who would seek admittance to the Sacred Mysteries .

When an aspirant was preparing to be received into any of the Ancient Mysteries he was carried into the temple or other place of initiation and there underwent a thorough purification of the body by water . This is what was called the lustration , and was , in fact , the preparation for the Lesser Mysteries . It was , as I have already intimated , symbolic of the purification of the heart , which was the absolute necessary preparation for admission to a knowledge of and a participation in the arcana ox

secret instructions . In Modern Freemasonry , that which is known by the name of " Ancient Craft Masonry , " embracing , as it has been authoritatively defined , the three symbolic degrees , including the Holy Royal Arch , there is , it is true , no distinct ceremony of lustration . There is no real washing of the body with the element

of water , as was practiced in the Ancient Mysteries and in the Orders of Chivalry , but there is a symbolic or implied lustration . The Entered Apprentice ' s degree takes , in fact , the place of the Ancient rite . The degree really involves no duties or obligations except those which are connected with the purification of the heart . The very implements that are confided to the candidate

to be used by him as the tools of this degree , namely , the gauge and gavel , are given to him that he may learn his duties to God , his neighbour and himself , and be taught to divest his mind and conscience of the superfluities of vice . Every ceremony of the degree is intended to impress upon the candidate the necessity of

a pure life and conduct , so that he may lay the foundations of that spiritual building , which , as a Mason , he is hereafter to erect . The whole of this is nothing more nor less than a symbolic lustration . The Entered Apprentice ' s degree is really a preparation for the other degrees , and in the Ancient Mysteries , Preparation and Lustration were synonymous terms .

Initiation was the next step in the Ancient Mysteries . It was here that the dramatic allegory was performed . It was here that the myth , or fictitious history on which the peculiar Mystery was founded , was developed . The aspirant passed through the supposed events of the life , the sufferings and the death of the hero or God , or had them brought in vivid representation before

him . The ceremonies constituted a symbolic instruction in the initia—the beginnings of the religious instruction which it was the object of the Mysteries to inculate , and hence the candidate being in possession of these initia was said to be " initated . " These ceremonies were performed partly in the Lesser , but more especially in the Greater Mysteries , of which they were the first

part . Very properly was the aspirant said by passing through these ceremonies to be " initiated , " that is , to be a participator in the " beginning "—the initia of the doctrine , because without further and fuller instructions they would be wholly unintelligible . Now , precisely this analogy exists in Modern Freemasonry . Here the canditate , having gone through the lustration , which , as

I have already said , is represented by the preparation , then enters upon the initiation . The analogy between Masonry and the Mysteries is here more close than one would be at first inclined to suppose . In the Mysteries , the lustration or preparation may be viewed as the first degree . Then followed the Lesser Mysteries ,

like a second degree , in which the initiation was begun , and after that came the Greater Mysteries , in which , as in a third degree , the initiation is fully developed . So in Modern Freemasonry we have the three steps similarly divided into degrees . The Entered Apprentice properly takes the place of the Ancient Lustration .