The Ancient Mysteries And Modern Freemasonry; Their Analogies Considered.

complement of the Masters degree . Because as in the Ancient Mysteries the degree of Perfection , or the autopsy , was that in which the concealed dogma of the Mysteries relating to the unity of God and the resurrection to eternal life was made known

to the aspirant ; so , in the degree of Perfection of Modern Freemasonry—that part of the Master ' s degree , namely , ivhich is included in the Royal Arch , the Masonic dogma of Divine Truth , symbolised by the TRUE AVORD—is communicated to the

candidate who has previously passed through the processes of Preparation and Initiation . Now , then , we can understand and fully appreciate that mystical answer of the Master Mason , that he was induced to become such that he miht '' perfect himself in

g Masonry , work , and receive Master ' s AVages , so as to travel into foreign countries . " To perfect himself in Masonry—to receive in the degree of Perfection the true dogma of Masonry , ivhich is tbe unity of God and the resurrection to eternal life—the very

dogma taught in the Ancient Mysteries . To work—to contemplate Divine Truth , and to build within himself a spiritual temple in which that Divine Truth , like the Shekinah of the Hebrews , might dwell . To receive Master ' s Wages—to obtain the

True Word , which is the Masonic symbol of Divine Truth . And to travel into foreign countries—to leave , at length , when all his labour is ended , this earthly home , and to ascend into that now discovered country "from whose bourne no traveller returns , " and there to see and to learn the true nature

of this Divine Truth , and to behold and to know it , no longer as a symbol , but as a bright reality . Thus , then we trace the analogies between the Ancient Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry . 1 . The Preparation in the Mysteriescalled the lustration . It was

, the first step in the Mysteries , and the Apprentice ' s degree in Masonry . In both systems the candidate was purified for the reception of truth . In the Mysteries there was a physical ablution ; in Masonry a moral cleansing ; but in both the design was the same . 2 . The Initiation : In

the Ancient system this was partly in the Lesser Mysteries , but more especially in the Greater , in Masonry it is partly in the Fellow Craft ' s degree , but more especially

The Ancient Mysteries And Modern Freemasonry; Their Analogies Considered.

in the Master ' s . In both systems the form was dramatic , and the design to portray the life and sufferings , the death and resurrection of a victim . 3 . Tlte Perfection : In the Mysteries it was the communication to the aspirant of the true dogma—the great

secret symbolised b y the initiation . In Masonry it is the same . The dogma communicated is , in fact , not different ; for in both it is God and immortality . This perfection , or autopsy , came in the Mysteries at tho end of the Greater Mysteries , aud

was made in a holy place . In Masonry it is communicated as the end of the Master ' s degree , and in that complement of it known as the Holy Royal Arch , aud the place where the communication is made represents the holy of holies . These analogies are very striking , and show a connection between the two

systems . Is modern Freemasonry a lineal and uninterrupted successor of the Ancient Mysteries ^—the succession handed down through the Mysteries of Mithras , which existed in the fifth and sixth centuries , or is the fact of these analogies to be attributed to the

coincidence of a natural process of human thought , common to all human minds , and showing its outgrowth in symbolic forms ? These are questions well worth consideration , and which every Masonic student must answer for himself .

The Lady Muriel.

THE LADY MURIEL .

( From Bro . Emra Holmes' " Tales , Poems , and Masonic Papers , " about to be pub lished . ) CHAPTER 1 . AN INTRODUCTION .

JOHN FALCONBRIDGE was an eccentric man , and one of those eccentric men whom yea cannot help liking for their very eccentricity . A tall , rather plain , odd-looking fellow , with a scar on the left temple , as if from a sabre cut ; carelessly , I had almost said shabbily , dressed ; but with something unmistakable about his manner , which told you he was a gentleman . AVhen we met