Address Of P.G.M. Bro. Hon, Richard Vaux, At Centennial Of American Union Lodge.

resurrection , St . Paul takes from the Elusian mystery , in which Ceres has so important a place , the symbol of the seed of grain , to explain to them the mystery of rising from the dead , for he writes : — " But some man will say , Row are the

dead risen up 1 and with what bod y do they come 1 Thou fool , that which thou sowest is not quickened , except it die And that which thou sowest , thou sowest not that body shall be , but bare grain , it may chance of wheat , or of some other

grain . " Can it then be even plausibly asserted that if St . Paul was an initiate in these pre-Christian mysteries , and enlightened mankind either from these wisdoms , or by adapting them to this end after he became a divinely ordained teacher , that he taught anti-Christian doctrines' ?

And so it came to pass that the great truth of the resurrection and eternal life contained in the teachings of the cults or the mythologies or mysteries , hid from ages and from generations , which from the beginning of the world was had with Godimparted only in secret to initiates in

, tyled lodges of the fellowship of the mystery , where it was deposited under the protection of commissioned conservators , was taught by St . Paul to mankind , who thus in the symbolism of the seed of grain , " brought immortality to li ght . "

These thoughts may be likened to viaducts composed of century spans , enabling Truth and Time to travel the journey in which they are inseparable associates over chasms of omitted periods , which , if filled

up and fitted into their appropriate places , would constitute the level pathway of continuous history . But out of them it is proposed to present what they inherently contain , the preparation for a clearer understanding of the origin , purpose and character of

Freemasonry , and if not a clearer understanding , at least a more sublime conception of its derivation from those mythologies , those mysteries which , " from the beginning of the world had been hid in God , " aud as the Truth could not be unfolded for the

comprehension of the people till Time should make it possible , had been " hid from ages and from generations . " It has been already shown that in all Time , Truth has ever been taught bv some

form of symbolism . The Noachian age the Israelitish period , the Pauline epoch are conspicuous for demonstrating this fact . Profane traditions prove that in the earliest dawn of civilization there were cults known to the initiated , which were

celebrated by the most exhaustive allegory by means of well defined symbolism . These mysteries were circumscribed to a secret and select number of niystce or " initiates , " who advancing in wisdom , or knowledgeor lightwere next kuown as

, , ephori or epoptce , having learned the secret meaning of the rites . It is also shown that iu Persia , Egypt and Greece these mysteries were nearl y identical , and the mysteries are said to have existed many centuries B . C .

The two most celebrated , and probabl y the best known of the mythologies or mysteries are the Eleusinian and Bacchic . The former were celebrated , it is claimed , thirteen centuries B . 0 . Confining notice then to these mysteries ,

we discover that each was a secret teaching of Truth , which could not be accepted by the general mind of the people . It was necessary to subject the applicant for admission to a state of preparation , that he was then entered as a novitiate , and advanced to the highest degree , after probation .

It appears that the Truth then obtained or imparted was so great a mystery to the " natural mind , " that it could not he accepted without the application of the method suited to a proper unfolding of it by degrees . The preparation and

subsequent ceremonies were intended to enlig hten the understanding , and they were directed to develop faith , courage , secrecy , devotion and hope . The penalty of a violation of imparted knowledge by clandestine meanswas death .

, It is also shown that some of the mysteries which these mythologies or cults taught in secret , were death , resurrection and a future life , and these were the elements in the higher mysteries . The universality of these cults among nations ,

at this earliest dawn of the light of civilization , confined to secret associations of the initiated , and the Truth which each embodied in its allegory , and taught orally by the aid of symbolism , is known . ( To be continued . )