"THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND MODERN FREEMASONRY."

by

W.Bro. R. A. L. HARLAND, P.M., Lodge No. 1679, President of the Circle.

".... ancient no doubt it is, having subsisted from time

immemorial;....."

(Charge after Initiation).

My object in this Paper is to explore the relationship which is held to

exist

between modern Freemasonry and the Mysteries of antiquity.. That there

is both a historical and philosophical thread uniting them is admitted by

competent Masonic scholars, no less than by students of symbolism and

mysticism, although the significance of such an association has not yet

begun to influence the thoughts of members of the Craft in general.

The institution of the Mysteries is the most interesting phenomenon in

the

study of religious and morality systems. The idea of antiquity was that

there was something to be "known" in religion; secrets or mysteries into

which it was possible to be initiated; that there was a gradual process

of

unfolding in religious matters; in fine, that there was a science of the

soul,

and a definite knowledge of things unseen.

A persistent tradition in connection with all the great Mystery-

institutions

affirms that their several Founders were the early Teachers of our

present

humanity, and that they were themselves souls belonging to a more

developed humanity not necessarily earth-born. At this stage, we learn,

the

men of our humanity were as children with minds equivalent to that state,

and only capable of understanding what they distinctly saw and felt. In

the

earliest times, according to this view, the Mysteries were conducted by

those who had a knowledge of nature-powers which was the acquisition of

a prior-perfected humanity, and the wonders shown in the Mysteries were

such that none of our humanity could themselves produce. As time went

on, however, our humanity more and more developed the faculty of reason,

wereupon the Teachers gradually withdrew, and the Mysteries were

committed to the care of the most advanced pupils, who finally had to

substitute symbols and devices, dramas and scenic representations, of

what had previously been revealed by higher means. Then it was that

corruption set in, and man was eventually left to win his own divinity by

self-conquest, and by continually struggling against the lower elements

in

his nature.

So runs the ancient Mystery tradition, and if research and investigation

are

persevered with, it becomes apparent that at one time, long back in the

world's past, there was implanted in the minds of the whole human family

(which was doubtless much smaller and more concentrated then than

now) a Root-doctrine in regard to the nature and destiny of the soul of

man,

and of his relation to the Deity. Moreover, the student will discover

that in

all Scriptures and cosmologies the tradition is universal of a "Golden

Age,"

of an Age of comparative innocence, wisdom and spirituality, in which

racial

unity and individual happiness and enlightenment prevailed; in which

there

was that "open vision" for want of which, it is declared, "the people

perish"

but in virtue of which all men were once in conscious conversation with

the

unseen worlds, and were shepherded, taught and guided by the

superintendents of the race, who imparted to them the sure principles

upon which their spiritual welfare and evolution depended. That "Golden

Age" does indeed lie far back in the aeons of antiquity, but nevertheless

the

tradition is to be found among all peoples and in every part of the

globe,

that this was the happy, peaceful Age of human childhood, when the race

received the lessons in morality, industry and social relations.

Of particular interest to members of the Craft is the tradition which

affirms

that it was under the guidance of the divine Instructors that our

humanity

was taught its first notions of the arts and sciences, and that it was

They

who laid the foundations of those ancient civilisations which so sorely

puzzle the modern generation of scholars. This may explain why it is that

no matter how far back into the night of time archaeological and other

methods of investigation are extended, high stages of civilisation are

found,

each having an elaborate numerical system, where, according to current

scientific theories, only the most primitive conditions might be

expected.

Further, the presence of fully developed numerical systems in ancient

civilisations proves conclusively that the science of numbers was not

slowly

evolved by primitive man learning to count on his fingers, as is

popularly

supposed, and confirms the tradition of a fully elaborated system of

computation which was revealed to the early races by the spiritual

Teachers

of mankind.

We of to-day are prone to pride ourselves upon being wiser and far more

advanced than primitive humanity; we assume that our progenitors lived in

a state of moral benightedness out of which we have since gradually

emerged into comparative light. The available evidence, however,

negatives

these suppositions; it indicates, on the contrary, that primitive man,

notwithstanding his intellectual undevelopment, when judged by our

modern standards, was spiritually conscious and psychically perceptive to

a degree which is undreamed of to-day. We should, then, investigate how

it came about that the original high elevation of thought and conduct was

forfeited; for none can. deny that in our day, in spite of superiority in

temporal matters, we are in a "state of darkness" and ignorance

concerning

our own nature, the nature of the invisible world around us, and the

eternal

spiritual verities. Again tradition will provide an adequate answer.

The tradition is likewise universal of the collective soul of humanity

having

sustained a "fall," a moral declension from the true path of spiritual

evolution, which has had the effect of severing it almost entirely from

its

creative source, and which, as the Ages have advanced, has involved its

sinking more and more deeply into physical conditions. It is also

asserted

that the dire consequences of ths "fall" resulted in a splitting up of

humanity, from a unity employing a single language into a diversity of

conflicting races, and that the process has been accompanied by a

progressive densification of the physical body, with a corresponding

atrophy of the spiritual consciousness. Modern science, of course, is not

prepared to accept Scriptural testimony regarding the "fall," but on the

other

hand, the tradition of the extrusion of humanity from the more immediate

precincts of Deity is so catholic in expression that it must have been a

canon of that Proto-evangel which, research has disclosed, lies at the

back

of all the great religious systems of history. Antiquity and

universality,

however, constitute insufficient evidence of truth for modern

rationalism,

and in consequence the doctrine proclaiming the "fall of man" is rejected

by those who contend that everything points rather to a ."rise of man,"

yet

who fail to reflect that logically such a " rise " necessarily

comprehends an

antecedent "fall " from which a subsequent "rise" becomes possible.

To return to the tradition. It is further related that from this "fall,"

which is

stated to have been due to some defect in the group-soul of the Adamic

race and a process covering vast time-cycles, it was necessary and within

the Divine counsels and providence that humanity should be redeemed and

restored to its pristine condition, the restoration in turn requiring

vast time-

cycles for achievement. But the process of redemption required something

more; it required in addition the application of an orderly and

scientific

method; humanity was unable to manage its own recovery and needed

skilled assistance to bring about the restoration. Whence, then, could

come

that skill and scientific knowledge if not from the Divine world, from

those

Teachers and guardians of primitive man, of whom all the ancient

traditions

and Sacred Writings tell? And would not such regenerative method be

properly described if it were called, as in modern Freemasonry it is

still

called, the "heavenly science "? In this tradition, transmitted by the

instituted

Mystery systems, is enshrined the origin and birth of Religion, at once a

theoretic doctrine and a practical science; it promulgated the "Sacred

Law

" for the "guidance and instruction" of "fallen" humanity, a law valid

from

"time immemorial," of which it is written: "As it was in the beginning,

is now,

and ever shall be."

According to "traditional history," the One Religion for humanity

originated

In the East; for the East is (geographically, astronomically, and

spiritually)

always the source of LIGHT- "EX ORIENTE LUX" ("Out of the East Light");

and, as humanity itself became diffused and distributed over the globe,

gradually spread towards the West. Hence, in our Craft Lectures, we find

the cryptic reference: "Learning originated in the East, and thence

spread

its benign influence towards the West" (First Lecture, Fourth Section).

Appropriately, therefore, the earliest teaching of the Mysteries

traceable

within historic time was in the Orient, and in the language known as

SANSKRIT; a significant name meaning "highly wrought speech" ("sans"

perfectly-made "krit"). Moreover, for very great lights upon the ancient

doctrine we must study the religious and philosophical Scriptures of

India,

which was in its spiritual and temporal prime when modern Europe was

frozen beneath an ice-cap.

Races and nations, however, like men, are born and die, and are but

units,

upon a larger scale than the individuals who comprise them, for

furthering

the general life purpose. When a given race has served, or failed, in

that

purpose, the stewardship of the Mysteries passes on to other and more

effectual hands. The human Race, as a whole, constitutes, as it were, a

collective Man, and the successive sub-races are analogous to a series of

incarnations. At the close of each Racial cycle, we are told, the Earth

planet

undergoes a geological transformation, making it practically a new globe,

and its psychic sphere is likewise renovated. Traditionally, six great

Races

succeed each other on the Earth in six "Days of labour," followed by a

seventh and perfected Race in a seventh "Day of rest." Each of these six

Races, again, has its sub-divisions; and the men of whom the Race is

composed are of different grades, the highest corresponding to the state

pertaining to the seventh or perfect Race; these latter now are the

Initiates,

the custodians of humanity's spiritual heritage in knowledge, the

Mysteries.

As the Mysteries can be imparted only to men who prove themselves

worthy through their efforts towards self-purification, the cycle of

teaching

and instruction has distinct degrees, and these are the various

lustrations

in the telestic or perfecting rites. Each racial period, whether great or

small,

is in itself such a cycle of instruction, and at its beginning a Teacher,

one

of the number of the Perfect or Initiates, is sent to preside over it.

He is, so

to speak, the "Sun" of that particular Day, and as he represents all the

spiritual knowledge which that Race or sub-race is capable of bringing

into

manifestation, he is mystically " the Son of the Man," or more

familiarly, the

" Son of Man."

The next great torchbearer of the Light of the World was Egypt, which,

after

many centuries of spiritual supremacy, in turn became the arid desert it

now is both spiritually and materially, leaving behind nevertheless a

mass

of structural and written relics testifying to its possession of the

Doctrine in

the days of its glory. From Egypt, as civilisations developed in

adjoining

countries, a great irradiation took place by the diffusion of knowledge,

and

the institution of minor centres for imparting the Divine Science in

Chaldea,

Persia, Greece and Asia Minor. The record of this diffusion is preserved

in

the Old Testament of the Volume of the Sacred Law, for the EXODUS is, in

one of its many allusions, a witness to the passing-on of the Mysteries

to

new and virgin regions for their enlightenment.

Of these various translations, those that concern the subject of this

Paper

chiefly are two: the one to Greece, and the other to Palestine. We know

from the Biblical record that Moses was an Initiate of the Mysteries of

Egypt: "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and

was mighty in words and in deeds "(Acts, chapter 7, verse 22); while

Philo

tells us that Moses in Egypt became "skilled in music, geometry,

arithmetic,

hieroglyphics and the whole circle of arts and sciences" ("Life of

Moses").

In other words, he qualified himself for his subsequent great task of

leadership of the Hebrew people, and the formulating of their religious

system and rule of life as laid down in the Pentateuch. The Mosaic system

continued, as we also know, along the channel indicated in the books of

the Old Testament, and then, after many centuries and vicissitudes,

effloresced in the greatest of all the expressions of the Mysteries, as

disclosed in the Gospels of the New Testament, or New Witness,

proclaiming the unity of human aspiration, and promulgating in one grand

system the doctrines of both the East and the West.

Concurrently with the existence of the Hebrew Mysteries under the Mosaic

dispensation, the great Greek school was developing, which originating in

the Orphic system, culminated and came to a focus at Delphi and

generated the philosophical wisdom associated with Athens and the

Periclean age. Greece was the spiritual descendant of India and Egypt,

and tradition relates that Pythagoras, a title accorded to another great

Initiate of the Mysteries, journeyed to India before being received in

Egypt

to take his final initiation prior to founding the school at Crotona

which is

linked with his name. Pythagoras is said to have been initiated into the

Egyptian, Chaldean, Orphic and Eleusinian Mysteries; and at the same time

he was one of the founders of Greek philosophy; his philosophy, however,

was not a thing of itself, but the application of his intellect,

especially of his

mathematical genius, to the best in these Mystery-traditions. Plato

continued this task, although on somewhat different lines; he worked more

in the world than Pythagoras, and his main effort was to clear the ground

from misconceptions. In the days of Plato the Orient and Egypt were

brought to Greece, whereas later on Greece went to Egypt and the East,

and the result was that Oriental thinkers and mystics became Hellenised

along the lines of Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy, while the Greek

philosophers became Orientalised by contact with members of the many

communities that honeycombed not only Egypt and the nations subject to

Greece, but also Asia Minor.

When the Greek kingdoms of the Successors to Alexander were in their

turn humbled beneath the conquering power of Rome, the organising Italic

genius policed the world; but the legal mind and practical character of

Rome was never really at home in the metaphysical subtleties of Greek

philosophy, or the mysticism of the East. Rome, nevertheless, could no

more than Greece avoid religious contact with the East, and we find her

passing through the same experiences as Greece, although in a modified

form. The chief point of contact among the numerous religious systems of

the Roman Empire was in the common worship of the Sun, and the inner

core of this most popular cult was, from about B.C.70 onwards, to be

found

in the Mysteries of Mithra. Indeed, the Mithraic Mysteries represented

the

esoteric side of a great international religious movement, which the

uniting

together of many peoples into the Graeco-Roman world had made

possible, and which resulted from the contact of Greece and Rome with the

thought of the East. National and local cults were gradually influenced

by

the form of symbolism employed by the modified Chaldeao-Persian

tradition; the worship of the Spiritual Sun, the Logos, with the natural

symbol of the glorious orb of day, which was common in one form or other

to all great cults, and the rest of the solar symbolism, gradually

permeated

the popular indigenous forms of religious observance. In course of time,

Mithra, the visible sun for the ignorant, the Spiritual Sun and Mediator

between Light and Darkness, as Plutarch ("Moralia") tells us, for the

instructed, caused his rays to shine to the uttermost limits of the Roman

Empire. And just as his outer cult dominated the restricted forms of

national

worship, so did the tradition of his Mysteries modify the Mystery-cultus

of

the Western world.

The ancient Chaldean religious system was astronomical and mathematical.

Every letter of the sacred language had a numetical equivalent;

cosmogenesis and spiritual evolution were worked out in the symbolism of

numbers. This method of mystical exegesis was developed by the

Hellenising tendency of the cultured Rabbis of the Diaspora and Egypt,

especially Alexandria, became one of the main centres of Kabbalistic

learning. In the schools of Alexandria the Rabbinical mystics perfected

their

religious theories, and so highly esteemed were they in Palestine and

throughout the East, that the Alexandrian Rabbis were known as the "Light

of Israel." Along this line of tradition there was transmitted a closely

guarded lore of the Cosmos which found only partial and cryptic

expression in the public Scriptures in terms of building. With the

Kabbalists

the erection and subsequent vicissitudes of King Solomon's Temple

provided a great glyph or mythos of the up-building of the human soul;

they were the mystical builders of a Temple and Sanctuary within the

walls

of the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Sacred House in the earthly

Jerusalem was but an imperfect sign. The symbolic terminology of

building

was carefully evolved, and when the stream of circumstances and mystical

tradition widened into its Christian development, the schools of Jewish

theosophy exercised a profound influence on the shape of things to come.

Most of these mystic schools and communities, whether of Greek or

Egyptian or Jewish descent, when they came in contact with each othen

gave and received. True that some of them refused to mix in person or

doctrine, and there were rigidly conservative mystic schools of all three

lines of descent; others, nevertheless, if not in their corporate

capacity, at

any rate in the persons of their individual members, freely fraternised,

and

so encouraged syncretism and syntheticism among them all. Accordingly,

we find that the Gospels, the Epistles and the Apocalypse of the New

Witness are full of allusions to building; whilst a spiritual Chief

Cornerstone,

one in which the entire social fabric is to grow together into a single

universal Temple, is specifically noted in the augmented plan for " the

guidance and instruction of the workmen." It is acknowledged by most

students that St. Paul, if not an actual initiate, was greatly influenced

by

familiarity with current conceptions as to the role of the Mysteries in

promoting spirituality; also that many of these conceptions were, as the

result of that same influence, embodied, through his apostolate, in

Christian

doctrine.

We may now proceed, from the standpoint of modern Freemasonry, to

examine more fully the work of the Mysteries, and in particular the Greek

schools. With the Greeks, the quest of the candidate took the form of a

search for wisdom, the Sophia; just as in the Hebrew and Christian

schools

the mythos centres around a quest for the Lost Word. It should here be

explained that the allegory of a search for the Lost Word is not a search

for

any particular word; in fact it is not even a search for a word at all.

The

expression "The Word" had significance to the Hebrews and other ancient

races which is difficult for the modern mind to comprehend. While not

strictly accurate we shall not be far wrong in saying that to the ancient

mind

"The Word " signified all Truth; and this search, it was recognised, will

continue as long as this life lasts, but not until we have passed from

this

"sublunary abode" to a higher state of existence will divine Truth be

disclosed to us in all its fulness and beauty. The Greek method,

therefore,

began by instructing aspirants in certain truths about the nature of the

soul,

its potentialities and destiny, and then left the individual to follow up

the

information given by a regulated course of conduct in which the teaching

imparted would become converted into assured conviction. By such a

method it was most effectively demonstrated to the candidate that in this

study "knowing" depends entirely upon "doing"; the axiom is: "He that

will

do the will shall know of the doctrine." The Mysteries involved something

more than a merely notional philosophy; they required also a mode of

philosophical living, which is cryptically spoken of as "dying" To quote

from

the words of Socrates in the "Phaedo" of Plato, "the whole study of the

wisdomseeker is nothing else than to die and be dead"; an assertion which

is repeated by Plutarch, "to be initiated is to die." This mystical death

to

which the Mysteries alluded, using the analogy of bodily death, is that

deathin-life to the lower self of man, referred to by St. Paul when he

protested, " I die daily" (1st Corinthians, 15-31 ).

The Greek method was divided into two parts known respectively as the

Lesser and the Greater Mysteries. The Lesser Mysteries were those in

which elementary instruction was provided in order that candidates might

forthwith set about the task of purifying and adapting their lives to the

truths

disclosed. The Greater Mysteries related to the development of

consciousness within the soul itself, as the result of fidelity to the

prescrlbed rule of life. To draw a faint analogy, the Lesser Mysteries

bore

the same relation to the Greater as our present Craft Degrees do to the

Holy Royal Arch. In the case of the greatest of the Greek Mysteries,

those

of Eleusis, the main teaching was communicated by means of the myth of

Persephone, which portrayed the journey of the soul through periods of

existence in this world to the divine life in the spiritual world, its

true home.

The way to this higher life was shown to be through purification and

illumination, and initiation into the Mysteries of Eleusis at once

proclaimed

the quest of the aspirant for Light, in precisely the same manner that

to-day

the candidate for Freemasonry is made to declare that the "predominant

wish" of his heart is for "Light." Furthermore, the aspirant for the

Mysteries

earnestly sought to be endued with a "competency of the Divine Wisdom,"

and was required to "freely and voluntarily" submit himself to a process

by

which, he was assured, he could become transformed from the natural

state into the spiritual state. It is of this process that St. Paul, in

his Epistle

to the Ephesians, writes: "And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and

that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness

and true holiness " (Ephesians, 4-23 and 24). Similarly, in an old

Mithraic

liturgy the candidate says: "Let me, though now held down by my lower

nature, be reborn into immortality; that I may become mentally reborn,

that

I may become initiated, that the Holy Spirit may breathe in me."

Despite the wide popularity, throughout the Empire, of the Mystery Cults,

especially those of Isis and of Mithras, the great age of the Mysteries

was

long past in the time of St. Paul and his fellows. It is a striking

testimony

to the strictness with which the vows of secrecy exacted from initiates

must

have been observed that so little of the inner truth and substance of

this

experience has leaked out, in which so many thousands must,

nevertheless, have participated. In the days when the Mysteries

flourished

as public Institutions, every educated man entered them in the same way

that men enter a University in our modern times. Pupils when accepted by

the authorities were graded according to their moral, intellectual and

spiritual efficiency; then, for a period of years, they underwent

physical and

mental exercises, and were subjected to periodical tests in order to

determine their fitness to proceed with the more serious work of actual

initiation. Finally, the initiation was administered only to those who

were

found to be duly qualified, while in all cases the precise nature of the

process was of a secret and closely guarded character. An echo of this

mehod progress by regular stages is found in our present-day Ritual,

particularly in the Ceremony of Initiation, where the candidate is

informed

that "there are several degrees in Freemasonry with peculiar secrets

restricted to each," and in the accompanying reminder that these, " are

not

conferred upon candidates indiscriminately, but according to merit and

ability:'

Aspirants for the Mysteries were directed to cultivate the "four

cardinal

virtues" and to study the "seven liberal arts and sciences," and here

again

Masonic tradition preserves the method and testifies accordingly. The

construction formerly put upon both the virtues and the sciences was,

however, much more advanced than the modern mind considers adequate,

and although in the Craft we have not departed from the essential

curriculum in theory, in the matter of practice there is a wide

difference With

our "ancient Brethren" virtues were much more than mere abstractions and

ethical sentiments; as the word "virtue" itself implies, they involved

positive

valours and virility of soul; thus:-

TEMPERANCE: Involved the complete control of the lower or passional

nature.

FORTITUDE: Implied a courage which is undismayed by adversity, and

which permits of no deflection from the goal in view.

PRUDENCE: Comprehended profound insight leading to forward-seeing,

and eventually producing the prophetic faculty of seer-ship.

JUSTICE: Demanded unswerving righteousness of thought, word and deed.

The familiar "arts and sciences" were also of a positive nature. They

were

termed " liberal " because the educational curriculum of the Mysteries

was

expressly designed in order to assist the "liberation" of the soul of the

aspirant from the illusions which are incident to the natural and

unregenerate "state of darkness." In this sense GRAMMAR, LOGIC and

RHETORIC were to be treated as well-regulated disciplines of the moral

nature, by means of which certain irrational tendencies were to be

eradicated, and the candidates thereby trained to become "living

witnesses"

of the universal LOGOS, effectively speaking with "the tongue of good

report." GEOMETRY and ARITHMETIC were taught as sciences of

transcendental space and numeration, the complete comprehension of

which provided the key to the Universe and Man himself. Each expression

of life was also shown to have its number, rate of vibration or wave-

length,

its geometrical form, and its own particular place in the great Plan of

the

Grand Geometrician of the Universe. The science of ASTRONOMY not only

included observation of the heavenly bodies, but was directed to the

study

of metaphysics; and the correct understanding of the forces in, and

determining the destiny of, individuals, nations, and the whole human

race.

Finally, MUSIC was not confined to the study of vocal and instrumental

works, but was intimately concerned with adjustments of the personal life

in harmony with the Centre of All Life, by the living practice of

philosophy.

It is of interest to students of the sources of our Craft teaching to

know that

there is a reference to the "four cardinal virtues" in both the "Phaedo"

of

Plato and the Rabbinical "Book of Wisdom," which points to a community

of teaching between the Greek and the Hebrew schools.

The principal centre of the Greater Eleusinia was the superb temple at

Eleusis, near Athens; while the Lesser Mysteries had their seat at Agra,

on

the river llissos; the Lesser Mysteries were celebrated in February, and

the

Greater in the month of September, annually. The celebration of the

Greater Mysteries, which lasted nine days, began in public as a pageant

and festival in honour of Demeter and Persephone; but the telestic rites

were held in solemn secrecy in the temple, to which none but initiates

were

ever admitted. There was no concealment, however, of the fact that the

telestic rites were designed for moral purification, the development of

the

spiritual faculties, and the attainment of conscious immortality; nor was

there any secrecy about the general principles of the perfective

philosophy,

which were openly inculcated. Those candidates who became proficient in

the curriculum of the Lesser Mysteries, and thereby "properly prepared,"

were in due time allowed to apply for initiation in the Greater, but

those

who failed to qualify were not permitted to proceed. The decree

restraining

unqualified candidates from further advancement was not arbitrary; on the

contrary, it was necessary in the interests of the candidates themselves

because inward purity of heart and mind was essential to undergo the

ordeals of the final initiation, which otherwise rendered aspirants

liable to

severe mental aberrations. It was for this reason that the number of

qualified candidates amounted to only a small percentage of those who

entered the Mysteries; and, indeed, the law remains valid as we find that

the same truth is elsewhere proclaimed: "For many be called, but few

chosen " (Matthew, 20-16). We would here observe that the root of the

Hebrew word expressing "purity" denotes "fire"; from this root, through

the

Greek "pur" (fire), the English word "pure" is derived. The idea of

purification, therefore, is based on fire, implying an inward cleansing

of

which the action of fire is an outward symbol. Water, Air and Fire were

regarded in the Mysteries as the three elements of purification, but a

wide

distinction was made in the manner of their action.

One qualification above all was demanded from those who applied to enter

the Mysteries - humility, and it is not without significance that the

candidate

for admission to the Craft to-day is required to come to the Lodge

"humbly

soliciting." The reason for this attitude of humility was, and still is,

that the

wisdom into which the Mysteries and initiation admit a man is always

regarded by the wordly minded as being foolishness and of little account.

In order to attain it, therefore, the candidate must be prepared for a

complete and voluntary renunciation of worldly wisdom, and this may

involve his finding negated many of the things which he has previously

held

to be true, and which, those among whom he ordinarily mingles will

continue to believe. and insist, to be true. Speaking of the manner of

approach to the comprehension of things spiritual, St. Paul declares:

"Let

no man deceive himself; if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this

world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise " ( 1st Corinthians, 3-

18).

In the public processions of the Eleusinian Mysteries the sacramental

vessels and elements were carried upon the back of an ass, theby serving

the purpose of signifying that for the reception of Divine knowledge

"humility is an essential virtue." The explanation of this apt symbolism

is

furnished by Apuleius in the " Golden Ass." where he writes: " There is

no

creature so able to receive divinity as an ass; into which if ye be not

turned,

ye shall in no wise be able to carry the divine mysteries."

Another, and most effective, method employed in the Mysteries was that of

instructing students by means of myths, expressing either in doctrinal

form

or by spectacular presentations, truths of the divine world and the

spiritual

history of man. The Greek instructors and mythologists were adepts at

representing cosmic and philosophic truths in the guise of fables, which

at

once conveyed theosophic teaching to the discerning and, at the same

time, veiled it from the profane. Myth-making was a science, not an

indulgence in irresponsible fiction, and by exhibiting some of these

myths

in dramatic form candidates were instructed in various fundamental

verities

of life. So far as it affects humanity, the doctrine of the "fall" was

taught to

Greek students of the Mysteries in the myth of Psyche and Eros. The fair

maiden Psyche, the pre-natal human soul, dwelt unconscious of her own

perfection and beatitude, in a paradise over which at night shone a star

that

she knew was the emblem of her divine Lover and the token of His

presence, but which she observed nightly to be westering away from her

until at length it vanished from her ken. She had been warned ever to be

true to her star, and above all things to repel the advances of Eros [in

the

Latin form Cupid ("cupido"), her own desire-nature], who, like Eve's

serpent

in the biblical legend, might come to woo her from her allegiance; the

inevitable penalty of her fault being the loss of her present bliss and

her

transportation to a troublous sphere of life, to return from which would

be

extremely difficult. When Eros approached, she resisted for a time, and

then came the subtle temptation to which she fell. Eros spoke of her

vanished star; it had departed, he said, because her divine Lover, whose

symbol it was, had Himself descended into an inferior world where He had

manifested in the form of a star-shaped flower. Upon Psyche wishing she

might see the flower, Eros struck the ground with his staff, when up

sprang

a narcissus, which, in her joy, she forthwith picked and pressed to her

lips;

at - that moment she swooned away. Upon awaking she was no longer in

Paradise, but an inhabitant of this earth of ours. Like her synonym Eve,

she had tasted of the forbidden fruit and had fallen from the

enfranchisement of heaven into ihe bondage of life upon the material

plane.

This myth, and the importance once attached to it, will be appreciated

only

upon understanding its interpretation. It is the story of the human soul

and

is of the same nature as the Mosaic myth of Adam and Eve, and as the

parable of the Prodigal Son, neither of these being meant to be regarded

as historically true, but as a fiction spiritually true of cosmic facts.

Our modern Speculative Freemasonry being in the long line of succession

from the Ancient Mysteries follows the traditional method of imparting

instruction by myths, and its canon of teaching in the Craft degrees

contains two; one, that of the building of King Solomon's Temple; the

other,

that of the death and burial of the Master Builder, narrated, in the

traditional

history. The Royal Arch contains a third myth in the story of the return

from

captivity after the destruction of the first temple, the commencement to

build the second, and the discovery then made. Moreover, the whole of

the Craft ritual abounds in symbols and allegory, in which the

measurements of the Temple at Jerusalem are worked upon in order to

bring to the notice of candidates the science of numbers, form and

proportion, so manifest in architecture, and to connect them with the

"spiritual House" of Masonic tradition, with which they have the same,

although less obvious, relations. It is affirmed that in the course of

the

construction of the ideal Temple, something happened that wrecked the

scheme and delayed the fulfilment; this was the conspiracy of the

craftsmen. Turn to the Book of Genesis, you will find the "heavy

calamity"

which befell humanity recounted in the parallel allegory of Adam and Eve

and their expulsion from Eden. They were intended, as we know from the

legend, for perfection and happiness, but their Creator's project became

nullified by their disobedience to certain conditions imposed upon them.

The offence was precisely that committed by our Masonic conspirators.

They had been forbidden to eat of the Tree of Knowledge; or, in Masonic

ritual terminology, they were under obligation "not to attempt to extort

the

secrets of a superior degree"; their endeavour to obtain illicit

knowledge

defeated the divine purpose, and delayed the advancement of the Adamic

race until they and their posterity should regain the Paradise they had

lost.

The story, then, of the building of the first temple must be regarded as

a

philosophical instruction, garbed in quasi-historical form, concerning

the

structure of the human soul. This mystical temple was not one

constructed

of common stone, but of that metaphysical "unhewn stone," which signifies

that incorruptible raw material out of which the Creator fashioned the

human organism. The Jerusalem in which it was built was not the

geographical city in Palestine, but that eternal "City of Peace" in the

heavens; not, as St. Paul truly declares, "the Jerusalem which now is,"

but

that "Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians, 4-25

and

26). Its builders were not three historical personages resident in the

Levant, but the Divine energy considered in its three constituent

principles

which are spoken of in our Instruction Lectures as Wisdom, Strength and

Beauty, and which as "pillars of His work" run through and form the

metaphysical warp and basis of all created things. Of these three

principles, or upon these three pillars, was the human soul originally

and

divinely built in the heaven-world, and our Lectures, therefore, rightly

state

that the three pillars "also allude to Solomon, King of Israel; Hiram,

King of

Tyre; and Hiram Abiff; because those names personify the indissociable

triadic constituents of the Divine Unity. The temple of the soul has,

however, owing to certain untoward circumstances already mentioned, now

been destroyed and thrown down from its primitive eminence and

grandeur. Humanity, instead of being a collective united organic whole,

has become shattered into innumerable fragmentary separated parts, not

one stone standing upon another of its ruined buining. It has, moreover

lost consciousness of the genuine secrets of its own origin and nature,

and

has to be content with the spurious substituted knowledge it picks up

from

sense-impressions in this outer world. But, whilst Freemasonry

emphasises

the fact and the sense of this great loss, it indicates likewise, and

this is its

real purpose, the method by which we may regain that which is lost to us.

It holds out the great promise that, with divine assistance and by our

own

industry, the genuine realities will be restored to us, and that patience

and

perseverance will eventually entitle every worthy man to a participation

in

them. This large subject is mirrored in miniature in the Craft

ceremonial,

and the ceremonies through which every candidate passes are symbolic

of the stages of progress that every man may make by way of

self-purification and self-building, until he at length lies dead to his

present

natural self, and is raised out of a state of imperfection and brought

once

more into perfect union with the Lord of life into whose image he has

thus

become shaped and conformed.

A further word is necessary as to the concealed significance of Solomon

and the two Hirams. Solomon personifies the primordial Life-Essence or

substantialised Divine Wisdom which is the basis of our being. It is

defined

in the "Book of Wisdom," as "a pure influence flowing from the glory of

the

Almighty; the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror

of the

power of God and the image of His goodness" (chapter 7, verses 25-27).

It is described as a "king" because it must needs transcend and over-rule

whatever is inferior to itself, and as "king of Israel" because the word

"Israel"

means "ruling with God" as distinct from being associated with beings or

affairs of a sub-divine order. To conjoin this Life-Essence to a vehicle

which should give it fixity and form required the assistance of another

dominant or "kingly" principle, personified as Hiram, King of Tyre, who

supplied the "building material." Now, as we are dealing with purely

metaphysical ideas, it will be obvious to the student that the Tyre in

question has no connection with the Levantine sea-port of that name. The

word Tyre in Hebrew means "rock," implying the strength and compactness

which we associate with rock, whilst the same word recurs in Greek as

"Turos" and in Latin as "Durus," signifying hardness and durability.

Hence,

the phrase King of Tyre is to be interpreted as the cosmic principle

which

gives solidity and form to the Life-Essence, which is fluidic and

formless.

In alternative terms, Solomon and Hiram of Tyre represent the

"groundwork"

of the soul, which is then made functionally effective by the addition of

a

third principle, Hiram Abiff, personifying the active fabricating

principle.

This third principle is the "vital and immortal principle" immanent in

every

soul; crucified, dead and buried in all who are not alive to its

presence, but

resident in all as a redeeming power; as St. Paul says: "which is Christ

in

you, the hope of glory" (Colossians, 1- 27). It is consistent with the

humility

of the Mysteries that Hiram Abiff (literally, "the teacher from the

Father") is

not described as a "king," but as a "widow's son"; a beautiful touch of

Gnostic symbolism referable to the derelict or widowed nature of the

Divine

Motherhood ("Sophia") owing to the errancy and defection from wisdom of

her frail children. Such of those children who have rejoined, or are

striving

to rejoin, their mother are alone worthy to be called "widow's sons"; and

it

is to the cry to those who have rejoined her from those still labouring

in the

flesh, and perhaps wiping from their brow the large drops of the

"perspiration" of their anguish, that the traditional petition applies:

"O come

to my aid, ye sons of the Widow."

In a Paper of this dimension references to the Ancient Mystery systems

have necessarily been brief, and for those who would pursue the subject

further there is available an extensive literature. I have endeavoured

to limit

my exposition to the minimum evidence to show that Freemasonry is a

modern perpetuation of great systems of initiation that have existed for

the

spiritual instruction of men in all parts of the world since the

beginning of

time. The reason for their existence has been the obvious one, resulting

from the cardinal truth already alluded to, that man in his present

natural

state is inherently and radically imperfect; that sooner or later he

becomes

conscious of a sense of loss and deprivation and feels an imperative need

of learning how to repair that loss. There has always existed an

external,

popular doctrine which has served for the edification of those who are

insufficiently prepared for deeper teachings; and concurrently therewith

there has been an interior, advanced doctrine, which has been reserved

for

candidates willing to undertake specialised study. It has been far beyond

my scope to describe any of the experimental processes of initiation

employed by the systems I have mentioned, but in regard to them I would

ask you to accept my statement upon two points: (1) that although these

great schools of the Mysteries have long dropped out of the public mind,

they, or the doctrine they taught, have never ceased to exist; and (2)

that

it was through the activity and foresight of some of their advanced

initiates

that our present system of Speculative Freemasonry is due. You must not

imply from this that Freemasonry is by any means a full or adequate

presentation of the older and larger systems; it is, indeed, but their

pale

shadow. Nevertheless, such as they are, and so far as they do go, our

rituals and doctrine are an authentic embodiment of the ancient Secret

Doctrine. Those who were responsible for the institution of Speculative

Freemasonry some two hundred and fifty years ago undoubtedly made use

of certain materials lying ready to hand. They took, that is, the

elementary

rites and symbols pertaining to the mediaeval Operative Guilds of Stone

Masons and transformed them into a system of religio-philosophic

doctrine.

Thenceforward, from being related to the trade which deals in stones and

bricks, -the intention of Masonry was to be concerned solely and simply

with the greater science of soul-building; and, except for retaining a

number

of anologies which the art of the practical stone-mason provided,

Freemasonry became dedicated to purposes that are wholly spiritual.

To conclude; the "Craft," as we now afecconately call it, has progressed

beyond the widest conceptions of those who were charged with its

inauguration; it is thoroughly organised, and counts its membership by

tens

of thousands. What of the future? Rehabilitated in its ancient wisdom,

it

may become an irresistible force in shaping and influencing the course of

humanity. It first remains, however, with the Craft itself to see

whether it will

enter upon its own heritage as a lineal successor to the Ancient

Mysteries,

or, by failing to do so, will undergo the inevitable fate of everything

that is

but a form from which its native spirit has departed. Is this nescience,

this

imperviousness and failure to comprehend to no purpose? Perhaps not;

each of us lives in the presence of mysteries he fails to discern or

understand, and even when the desire for wisdom is at last awakened, the

education of the understanding is a long process. "Wisdom is the

principal

thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding."

(Proverbs 4-7), exclaims the old Teacher, in a counsel that may well be

commended to we of the Craft to-day, who so little understand our own

system. Upon us, therefore, who are numbered in the ranks of the Masonic

Order there rests the responsibility attaching to our privilege of

membership, and it must surely be our aim to enter into the full heritage

of

understanding and practising the system to which we belong.

SO MOTE IT BE

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