The Ancient Mysteries And Modern Freemasonry; Their Analogies Considered.

which , as I have already said , is represented by the preparation , thou outers 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 ivhich , 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 . This , as I have already shown , is symbolic . The lustration is not a physical , but a

spiritual one . It is the lustration of the heart by the influence of purifying doctrines expressed and enforced by symbols . We call it the preparation ; the words are different , but the ideas are identical . lustration and preparation are in design the same thing .

Then the Fellow Craft s degree is analogous to the Lesser Mysteries . The initiation is begun . Even the dramatic form , so necessary in all the Mysteries is observed . There is an ascent of winding stairs— the overcoming of obstructions—in search of that which is the object of all initiation

, typfied as the Word or Divine Truth . And in the Master ' s degree , as in the Greater Mysteries the initiation is continued , and is fully completed . Here , more than anywhere else is the analogy shown between these two systems—the Ancient

Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry , Not only is there a drama in both , but the very form , the plot , tho scenery , the denouement and the moral are precisely the same . Onl y the persons of the drama differ . But whether it be Osiris or Dionysusor

, Mithras or Hiram , it is plaiuly evident that but one series of thought pervade them all —the thought of life , of death , and of resurrection ; and that but one doctrine is common to all—the doctrine of immortality . -It is this common identity of form and

striking analogy of design in the initiation lnto both the ancient and the modern systems , that has led so many writers to frame * he theory that Freemasonry is derived rein and is a legitimate successor of the ¦ Ancient Mysteries . I confess , although I

do not entirely subscribe to it , that many theories have been advanced with less claims to plausibility . Perfection is the last of these progressive steps ivhich constitute the analogies between the Mysteries and Masonry . It is the ultimate object of both . In the

Mysteries it was called the " autopsy , " a word which signifies a " seeing with one ' s own eyes . " It was the complete and finished communication to the aspirant of the great secret of the Mysteries ; the secret whichduring the whole course of

, initiation had been symbolically overshadowed . The communication of this secret , which was , in fact , the explanation of the secret doctrine , for the inculcation of which the Mysteries had been instituted , was made in the sacellum or most sacred

place , analogous to the holy of holies' of the Temple and of the Masonic Lodge . ' The aspirant was thus invested with perfect knowledge—nothing more was left to be imparted , so he arrived at Perfection . In Freemasonry precisely the same process takes place . After the Lustration , or Preparation comes the Initiation , and then the Perfection , or full investment with all

that it has been the object of the candidate to attain . In the Catechism of the Master's degree the question , " What induced you to become a Master Mason 1 " is answered thus : "To perfect myself in Masonry that I might travel into foreign countries ,

work and receive Master ' s wages . " All of this is symbolic , but anyone can at once see that the receipt of " Master ' s wages , " whatever they may be , is the consequence of Perfection . In the early part of the last century the

Master ' s degree contained within itself another portion which completed it , and which supplied the "True AA ord . " This part was afterwards detached from it , aud became what is now known as the " Royal Arch . " But as late as 1813 the United

Grand Lodge of England recognized the fact of the dislocation , and , in its articles of Union , declared that Ancient Craft " consists of the three degrees of Entered Apprentice , Fellow Craft and Master Mason , including the Holy Royal Arch . " Accepting

this as a historical fact—and no one now doubts or denies it—we find Perfection in that part of the Master ' s degree , ivhich under the title of the Royal Arch is called the