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Article THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON.* ← Page 3 of 10 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.*
increased speed , at the same time they crossed and changed llieir ihiuiin . ; - torches , in order lo represent by the crossing of their flames the ' wanderings of Ceres in search of her daughter , with a torch lighted , nt Mount . / Etna . The sixth day was the most sacred . It commenced with a procession , in which the candidates for initiation and the servants of the Temple of Bacchus , the son of Ceres and Jupiter , who , with a torch iu his handhad accompanied the goddess in her wanderings
, from Athens , where the procession commenced , to Eleusis ; it very frequently amounted to 30 , 000 persons , who moved with measured steps to tiie sound of musical instruments and of sacrecl hymns , and who halted from time to time while offerings were made or sacred dances performed . Before they entered into Eleusis they all washed themselves in a spring , dedicated to Proserpine , and the statue of Bacchus was then brought into the temple . With the beginning of the niht
g the initiation into the mysteries commenced . After the , second archont had repeated the customary prayer and offered his offerings the candidates stepped into the sacred circle , where they found the servants of the temple in their robes . The sacred herald , who represented Mercury , cried with a loud voice— "Away from hence all the uninitiated , all the godless , and all those whose souls are polluted with crime . " Then the candidates were purified againthe ritual of initiation was readafter
, , ivhich they raised the sacred song to the honour of Ceres . After this followed scenic representations of departed spirits , the place of eternal darkness and of eternal light , the joys of the blessed and the tortures of the damned , which were concluded by the hierophant withdrawing the curtain from the holy of holies , and the statues of their gocls
became visible , surrounded by rays of the most brilliant light , and adorned with the utmost magnificence . When the candidate had seen all those things , and hacl heard the explanations of the hierophants , the initiation was complete—he was released from all sins , and his consecration was finished . On the seventh day games were played in honour of tiie gods , the highest prize was a measure of grain reaped from the fields of Eieusis . On the eighth day the ceremony of initiation was repeated as
on the sixth , for those who had not finished their initiation on that day , which was also dedicated unto Aescalapus , because he was initiated on that clay . The ninth day was concluded with a drink-offering . The object of all those mystical representations of the history of Ceres and Proserpine , the torments of Tartarus and and the joys of Elysium , which were conducted with the greatest pomp and splendour , and in such a manner as to make the deepest impression upon the minds of
those who witnessed them , was no other but to spread among the people the conviction of the immortality of the soul , and of a place of reward and of punishment . The initiated ivere under the special protection of tlie ' gods , ancl they , ' ' and they alone , were assured of immortal joy in the world to come . Those nine clays were so sacred to the Athenians , that all business , as well public as private , was suspended . There was a very great difference between those lesser mysteries and
the greater ones , which are supposed to contain the real secrets of the whole institution , which secrets were communicated by the hierophant in the most secret and sacrecl recesses of the temple unto a select number of those who had been initiated into the lesser mysteries one ycar after their initiation . They were bound to preserve those secrets inviolate , under the penalty of suffering the most severe punishment , vol .. III . n n
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.*
increased speed , at the same time they crossed and changed llieir ihiuiin . ; - torches , in order lo represent by the crossing of their flames the ' wanderings of Ceres in search of her daughter , with a torch lighted , nt Mount . / Etna . The sixth day was the most sacred . It commenced with a procession , in which the candidates for initiation and the servants of the Temple of Bacchus , the son of Ceres and Jupiter , who , with a torch iu his handhad accompanied the goddess in her wanderings
, from Athens , where the procession commenced , to Eleusis ; it very frequently amounted to 30 , 000 persons , who moved with measured steps to tiie sound of musical instruments and of sacrecl hymns , and who halted from time to time while offerings were made or sacred dances performed . Before they entered into Eleusis they all washed themselves in a spring , dedicated to Proserpine , and the statue of Bacchus was then brought into the temple . With the beginning of the niht
g the initiation into the mysteries commenced . After the , second archont had repeated the customary prayer and offered his offerings the candidates stepped into the sacred circle , where they found the servants of the temple in their robes . The sacred herald , who represented Mercury , cried with a loud voice— "Away from hence all the uninitiated , all the godless , and all those whose souls are polluted with crime . " Then the candidates were purified againthe ritual of initiation was readafter
, , ivhich they raised the sacred song to the honour of Ceres . After this followed scenic representations of departed spirits , the place of eternal darkness and of eternal light , the joys of the blessed and the tortures of the damned , which were concluded by the hierophant withdrawing the curtain from the holy of holies , and the statues of their gocls
became visible , surrounded by rays of the most brilliant light , and adorned with the utmost magnificence . When the candidate had seen all those things , and hacl heard the explanations of the hierophants , the initiation was complete—he was released from all sins , and his consecration was finished . On the seventh day games were played in honour of tiie gods , the highest prize was a measure of grain reaped from the fields of Eieusis . On the eighth day the ceremony of initiation was repeated as
on the sixth , for those who had not finished their initiation on that day , which was also dedicated unto Aescalapus , because he was initiated on that clay . The ninth day was concluded with a drink-offering . The object of all those mystical representations of the history of Ceres and Proserpine , the torments of Tartarus and and the joys of Elysium , which were conducted with the greatest pomp and splendour , and in such a manner as to make the deepest impression upon the minds of
those who witnessed them , was no other but to spread among the people the conviction of the immortality of the soul , and of a place of reward and of punishment . The initiated ivere under the special protection of tlie ' gods , ancl they , ' ' and they alone , were assured of immortal joy in the world to come . Those nine clays were so sacred to the Athenians , that all business , as well public as private , was suspended . There was a very great difference between those lesser mysteries and
the greater ones , which are supposed to contain the real secrets of the whole institution , which secrets were communicated by the hierophant in the most secret and sacrecl recesses of the temple unto a select number of those who had been initiated into the lesser mysteries one ycar after their initiation . They were bound to preserve those secrets inviolate , under the penalty of suffering the most severe punishment , vol .. III . n n