CHAPTER V.

ANCIENT MYSTERIES-SCOTTISH RITE PHILOSOPHY.
FTER carefully searching throiigli many countries and various sources, I find that the ancient mysteries originated in the hoary civilization of a prehistoric age. That all knowledge of Science, Arts and Philosophy are due to the ancient wisdom that per- meated the Indian, Mazdean and Egyptian mysteries, whose Hierophants gave forth freely the sublime teachings of this ancient wisdom, to all those who, after due trial, were found worthy and well qualified to receive them, and then only, under deep and binding obligations. I also found, that in all those different countries, these mysteries had a common origin, with a purpose in view identical one with the other. That purpose was for the upbuilding of humanity by instructing it in the sublime and pro- found truths of the ancient wisdom, which truths to-day underlie all religions and all philosophies. The principle of these mysteries, and the ''''fans et oi'igo " of all the rest, was the Mysteries of India, whose basic source of all knowledge and intellectual advancement was the Secret Doctrine of the adepts and sages of that country, who taught that " there is an Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless and Immtnable Pri^iciple back of all manifestations.''^ It is that which we call the Supreme Architect of the Universe, the Absolute and Infinite Deity. This fact was impressed upon the initiate of old, that he might be enabled to know that this Eternal Absolute Reality, is the eternal cause of all the manifestations and differentiations in the Kosmos. It was also taught that the Universal Brotherhood of Man is the basis of all ethics, and that the grandest study for man, was man, as in coming to an under- standing of himself and his own potential forces he would be enabled to come to a better comprehension of God and Nature.
The esoteric teachings of the ancient mysteries is what gave to Greece her civilization and culture, which resulted in her wonderful intel-
98 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
lectual advancement ; force of character to her citizens, wisdom to her statesmen, and placed her at the head of all civilized nations. This fact is demonstrated in history as, after the " Golden Age " of Egypt, she was pre-eminently above all other nations and peoples, through the development of her knowledge of science, art, philosophy, literature, poetry, etc. All this was due to the profound and sublime teachings that permeated the ancient mysteries.
In order that you, my dear Brothers and readers, may be enabled to understand something about these ancient mysteries, I shall quote you from various authorities, and try to explain the sublimity and grandeur of the teachings which pertained, not only to the Ancient Mysteries, but to our own glorious Scottish Rite, a true and lineal descendent of those ancient institutions or fraternities. These gave to Greece her culture and refinement, and to Rome her civilization. I want 3'ou, my dear Brothers, to distinctly understand that all the knowledge and wisdom that belonged to the Indian, Mazdean, and the ancient Egyptian Mys- teries, have been preserved, and are now taught, in all their sublimity and grandeur, in our own beloved Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
Grote in his " History of Greece," Vol. I, Chapter xvi, page 3S8, says : " In the Elusinian and Samothracian Mysteries was treasured up the Secret Docinne of the theological and philosophical myths, which had once constituted the primitive legendary stock of Greece, in the hands of the original priesthood, and in ages anterior to Homer. Persons who had gone through the preliminary ceremonies of initiation, were per- mitted at length to hear, though under strict obligations of secrecy, this ancient and cosmogonic doctrine, revealing the distinction of man, and the certainty of posthumous rewards and punishments, all disengaged from the corruptions of poets, as well as from the sj^mbols and allegories under which they still remain buried in the eyes of the vulgar. The Mysteries of Greece were thus traced up to the earliest ages, and repre- sented the only faithful depositories of that purer theolog}^ and physics, which had originally been communicated, though under unavoidable inconveniences of a symbolical expression, by an enlightened priesthood^ who were highly educated in the sciences, philosophies, arts and ethics, and thoroughly instructed, having their origin either in Egypt, or in the East among the rude and barbarous Greeks, to whom their knowledge
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 99
was communicated under the veil of symbols." These teachings embodied a profound theological philosophy and inculcated great and glorious moral truths upon those Initiates who desired a knowledge of the Ancient Wisdom^ and these teachings eventually became lost, that is to the great majority ; but they were preserved by the few and taught in the various Mysteries handed down from generation to generation, until to-day we find them in all their sublimity and grandeur in our own glorious Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite.
Should any man or Mason doubt the verity of this statement, let either him or them read that scholarly production of our revered Brother General Albert Pike, " Morals and Dogmas," page 328 et seq, where he positively states that, " We use the old allegories, based on occurrences detailed in the Hebrew and Christian books, and drawn from the Ancient Mysteries of Egypt, Persia, India, Greece, the Druids and the Essenes, as vehicles to communicate the Great Masonic Truths ; as it has used the legends of the Crusades, and the ceremonies of orders of Knighthood.
" The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry has now become what Masonry was at first meant to be, a teacher of Great Truths, inspired by an upright and enlightened reason, a firm and constant wisdom, and an affectionate and liberal philanthrophy.
" We teach the truth of none of the legends we recite. They are to us but parables and allegories, involving and enveloping Masonic instruc- tion ; and vehicles of useful and interesting information. They represent the phases of the human mind, its efibrts and struggles to comprehend nature, God, the government of the universe, the permitted existence of sorrow and evil. To teach us wisdom, and the folly of endeavoring to^ explain to ourselves that which we are not capable of understanding, we reproduce the speculations of the Philosophers, the Kabalists, the Mysta- gogues and the Gnostics. Everyone being at liberty to apply our sym- bols and emblems as he thinks most consistent with truth and reason, and with his own faith. We give them such interpretation only as may be accepted by all. Our degrees may be conferred in France, or Turkey, at Pekin, Ispahan, Rome, or Geneva, in the city of Penn, or in Catholic Lousiana, upon the subjects of an absolute government or the citizens of a free State, upon sectarian or theist. To honor the Diety, to regard all
men as our brethren, as children, equally dear to him, of the Supreme LefC.
100 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY,
Creator of the lTniver.se, and to make himself iisefnl to society and himself In" his labors, are its teachings to its initiates in all of the degrees.
" Preacher of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality, it desires them to be attained by making men fit to receive them, and b}' the moral power of an intelligent and enlightened people. It lays no plots and conspiracies. It hatches iu> premature revolutions. It encourages no people to revolt against the constituted authorities ; but recognizing the great truth that freedom follows iitness for freedom, as the corollary follows the axiom, it strives to f^rcf^arc men to govern themselves.
" Except as mere symbols (>[ tlie moral virtues and intellectiuil qiuili- ties, the tools and implements of Masonry belong exclusively to the first three degrees. They also, however, serve to remind the Alason who has advanced further, that his new rank is based ixpon the humble labors of the symbolic degrees, as the}' are improperly termed, inasmuch as all the degrees are symbolic.
" Thus the initiates are inspired with a just idea of Masonrj-, to wit, that it is essentially woRi^ ; both teaching and practising i it is altogether emblematic. Three kinds of work are necessarj' to the preservation and protection of man and societv ; manual labor, specially belonging to the three blue degrees ; labor in arms, symbolized hy the knightly or chivalric degrees ; and intellectual labor, belonging particu- larl)- to the philosopical degrees.
" There was a distinction between the lesser and gTeater mysteries. One must have been for some j-ears admitted to the former before he could receive the latter, which was but a preparation for them, the Vestibule of the Temple, of which those of Eleusis was the sanctuary. There, in the lesser m5'steries, the)- were prepared to receive the holy truths in the greater. The initiates in the lesser were called simpl}' A/rs/cs, or initiates ; but those in the greater, Ji/>o/>/is, or seers. An ancient poet saj's that the former was an imperfect shadow of the latter, as sleep is of death. After admission to the former, the initiate was taught lessons of morality, and the rudiments of the sacred science, the most sitblime and secret part of which was reserved for the Epopt, who saw the truth in its nakedness, while the AI}-stes only ^■iewed it through a veil and under emblems fitter to excite than to satisfv his curiositv.
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" Before communicating the first secrets and primary dogmas of initiation the priests required the candidate to take a fearful oath never to divulge the secrets. Then he made his vows, prayers and sacrifices to the gods. The skins of the victims consecrated to Jupiter were spread on the ground, and he was made to set his feet upon them. He was then taught some enigmatic formulas, as answers to questions, by which to make himself known. He was then enthroned, invested with a purple cincture, and crowned with flowers, or branches of palms or olive."
Our very learned and ancient Brother Pythagoras divided his schools into two classes, to whom he gave instruction, both day and night. To those attending his day class, his lectures or teachings were to admonish his pupils as to the path they should follow, in order to acquire a knowledge of morality, virtue and truth, as well as continually warning them of their lower nature, and instructing them how to kill the animal within themselves, so as to allow the higher spiritual to dominate and guide him. Those who attended his night class were selected from the pupils who had proved themselves by earnest study and profound medi- tation, to be worthy and well qualified to live in union with a community who enjoyed a common property. These he instructed b}' allegories and symbols. The emblems used were taken from geometrical and numerical figures, believing that, " Number lies at the root of manifest universe. Numbers and harmonious proportion guide the first differentiation of homogeneous substance into heterogenous elements ; and number and numbers set limits to the formative hand of nature. Know the corres- ponding numbers of the fundamental principle of every element, and its sub-elements ; learn their interaction and behaviour on the occult side of manifesting nature, and the law of correspondences will lead you to the discovery of the greatest mysteries of macrocosmical life." [Secret Doctrine.)
After the pupil had thoroughly mastered and comprehended the primary instructions, he was then advanced to another plane of thought, and instructed in the profound, sublime teachings of the Secret Doctrine, that fountain of Ancient Wisdom, wherein he learned that man is not the highest being in Nature's evolutionary process; but that he has within him the potentiality of becoming so.
102 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
We learn from Clement of Alexandria that — " The Egyptians neither entrusted their mysteries to everyone, nor degraded the secrets of divine matters by disclosing them to the profane, reserving them for the heir apparent of the throne, and for such of the priests as excelled in virtue and wisdom."
Wilkinson, commenting on this, in " Ancient Egyptians," Vol. I, page 174, says: "From all we can learn of the subject, it appears that the Mj'steries consisted of two degrees, demonstrated the greater and the less, and in order to become qualified for admission into the higher class, it was necessary to have passed through those of the inferior degree, as each of them were probably divided into ten different grades. It was necessary that the character of the candidate for initiation should be pure and unsullied, and novitiates were commanded to study those things which tended to purify the mind and encourage morality. The honor of ascending from the less to the greater mysteries, was as highly esteemed, as it was difficult to attain. No ordinary qualifications recom- mended the aspirant to this important privilege and independent of enjoying an acknowledged reputation for learning and morality, he was required to undergo the most severe ordeal and to show the greatest moral resignation ; but the ceremony of passing under the knife of the Hierophant was merely emblematic of the regeneration of the Neophyte. That no one, except the priests, was privileged to initiation into the greater m3'steries, is evident from the fact of a prince, and even the heir-apparent, if of the military order, neither being made partakers of those important secrets, nor instructed in them, until his accession to the throne, when in virtue of his kinglj^ office he became a member of the priesthood and the head of the religion. It is not, however, less certain that at a later period many besides the priests and even some Greeks were admitted to the lesser mysteries ; yet in these cases also their advancement through the different grades must have depended on a strict conformance to prescribed rules."
J. Septimius Florens Tertullianus. a pagan philosopher, who after- wards embraced Christianity, and flourished about A. D. 196, was an able writer and in his " Apology for ilic Christians^'' sa3'S : " None are admitted to the religious mysteries without an oath of secrec}-. We appeal to 3"our Thracian and Elusinian mysteries, and we are specially bound to this
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 103
caution, because if we prove faithless we should not onl}^ provoke Heaven, but draw upon our heads the utmost rigor of human displeasure. And should strangers betray us ? They know nothing but by report and hearsay. Far hence, ye Profane, is the prohibition from all holy mysteries."
Clemens of Alexandria tells us in his " Stromata^^ that " he cannot explain the mysteries, because he should thereby, according to the old proverb, put a sword into the hands of a child." He frequently compares the discipline of the Secret with the heathen Mysteries, as to their internal and recondite wisdom.
Origen, a celebrated Greek writer, surnamed Adamantus^ a rigid Christian who made himself a eunuch, tells us that " Inasmuch as the essential and important doctrines and principles of Christianity are openly taught, it is foolish to object that there are other things that are recon- dite ; for this is common to Christian discipline with that of those philosophers in whose teachings some things were exoteric, and some esoteric." It is enough to say that it was so with some of the disciples of Pj'thagoras, and he, like Tertullian, informs us that, just before the church opened in regular form, those present were warned in the follow- ing words : " Depart ye Profane ! Let the Catechumens and those who have not been admitted or initiated go forth."
Cyrillus, Bishop of Jerusalem, informs us that " The Lord spake in parables to his hearers in general ; but to liis disciples he explained in private the parables and allegories which he spoke in public. The splendor of glory is for those who are earl}^ enlightened ; obscurity and darkness are the portion of the unbelievers and ignorant. Just so the church discovers its mysteries to those who have advanced beyond the class of Catechumens ; we emplo}' obscure terms with others."
Ambrosius, Bishop of Alilan, who compelled the Emperor Theo- dosius to do penance for the murder of the people of' Thessalonica, tells us in his " de Officis " that " All the mystery should be kept concealed, guarded b}' faithful silence, lest it should be inconsiderate^ divulged
to the ears of the profane It is not given to all to contemplate
the depths of our mysteries that they may not be seen by those
who ought not to behold them ; nor received by those who cannot pre- serve them He sins against God who divulges to the unworthy
104 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
tlie mysteries confided to him. Tlie danger is not merely in violating truth^ but in telling trutli, if lie allows himself to give hints of them to
those from whom they ought to be concealed Beware of casting
pearls before swine ! Every mystery ought to be kept secret, and
as it were, to be covered over by silence, lest it should be rashly divulged to the ear of the profane."
Brother Pike, in " Morals and Dogmas," page 624, says, " In the mysteries, wherever they were practiced, was taught that truth of the primitive revelation, the existence of One Great Being, infinite and prevading the universe, who was there worshipped without superstition ; and his marvellous nature, essence and attributes taught to the initiates, while the vulgar attributed his works to secondary gods, personified and isolated from Him in fabulous independence.
" These truths were covered from the common people as with a veil, and the mysteries were carried into every country, that, without disturb- ing the popular beliefs, truth, the arts and the sciences might be known to those who were capable of understanding them, and maintaining the true doctrine incorrupt ; which the people, prone to superstition and idolatry, have in no age been able to do ; nor, as many strange aberra- tions and superstitions of the present day prove, any more now than heretofore. For we need but point to the doctrines of so many sects that degrade the Creator to the rank, and assign to Him the passions of humanity, to prove that now, as always, the old truths must be com- mitted to a few, or they will be overlaid with fiction and error and irretrievably lost.
" Though Masonry is identical with the ancient mysteries, it is so in this qualified sense : that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy ; the ruins only of their grandeur, and a system that has experienced progressive alterations, the fruits of social events and political circumstances."
Augustinus,, Bishop of Hippo, in Africa, was a celebrated writer of his age. He died in the seventy-sixth year of his age, A. D. 430. He tells us that " Having dismissed the catechumens, we have retained you only to be our hearers, because, besides those things which belong to all Christians in common, we are now to discourse to you of sublime mysteries, which none are qualified to hear, but those who by the
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 105
Master's favor are made partakers of them To have taught
them openly would have been to betra}' them."
Chrysostom, a Bishop of Constantinople, died in A. D. 407, in his fifty-third year. He was a very great disciplinarian and made himself many enemies by preaching against the vices of the people. He was banished b}^ the empress for opposing the raising of a statue to her. He was a truly good man, and in his writings says, " I wish to speak openl}^ ; but I dare not, on account of those not initiated. I shall there- fore avail myself of disguised terms, discoursing in a shadowy manner.
Where the holy mysteries are celebrated we drive away all
unitiated persons and then close the doors." He also informs us, respecting the acclamations of the initiated, that he " will pass them over in silence ; for it is forbidden to disclose such things to the profane."
Basilius, a celebrated Bishop of Africa, was a very eloquent orator, who died in his iifty-first year, A. D. 379. He informs us that, "We receive the dogmas transmitted to us by writing and those which have descended to us from the Apostles, beneath the mysteries of oral tradition ; for several things have been handed to us without writing, lest the vulgar, too familiar with our dogmas, should lose a due respect for them This is what the uninitiated are not permitted to con- template, and how should it ever be proper to write and circulate among the people an account of them ? "
I have made various quotations to verify my own assertions as to the mysteries having a common origin and being the original source and depositor}^ of those pure Theosophical and Philosophical truths that are to be found in all religions, all philosophies, and all science. That in ever}' epoch of the world's history- these sublime and profound teachings have alwa^'s existed. I want to show the intimate relation between the esoteric truths and teachings of our own beloved Scottish Rite of Free- masonry, with the mysteries of ancient India. From this source ramified all the other mj'steries, through those of the Mazdean, Egyptian, Orphic, Cabirian, Samothracian, Elusinian, Sidonian, Dionysian, P3rthagorean, Druids, Christian, Basilidean, etc. Every intelligent Masonic student will recognize the connecting links between the ancient wisdom of India and the Theosophical and Philosophical esoteric teaching of Scottish Masonry; but he must not expect to find a regular, unbroken chain of evidence
106 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
running down from the hoary civilization of prehistoric ages to the present daj'. He will be enabled to trace the links in regular inter- rupted lines of transmission, and though interrupted the proof of their continued existence will be most assuredly unmistakable, as the thread which connects it wall mark its descent from age to age, until we find it in all its sublimity and grandeur echoing through the temples of otir own beloved Scottish Rite of Masonry, as it did in those of India, in the cave temples of Mazdean Hierophants, and the temples and pyramids of ancient Egypt, back to the dawn of time. These glorious truths and teachings which illuminated the path and mind of the aspirant in the hoary ages of the past, have descended to us from the " Land of the Vedas," and it demonstrates to the Neophyte of to-day the same grand sj^stem of philosophy. The self-same teachings that were concealed in the lesser and the greater mysteries are now taught and used in this glorious rite of ours, for the same purpose and in the same manner as in the civilization of the far away past.
Ah ! how magnificent and impressive must have been the ceremonies of the ancient Egyptians in their stupendous temples ! What transition from sorrow to joy! Light wandering in darkness, bereft of all save Hope, and the Light of Truth, carried deep down within the heart of every man ; even passing through the very shadow of death, pondering upon the threshold of the tomb, battling for very life ; wandering through weary wastes of desert, seeking for Light through cavernous depths ; but ever rising above Ignorance, Tyranny and Fanaticism into the realm of the highest degree of intellectual knowledge and perfection.
This most profound Theosophical Philosophy and science is written in symbols and veiled in such a manner, that only those Elus, Masters and Adepts, who have seen the Light, are enabled to interpret or explain the true meaning of them, as they were and are used for the purpose of concealing the profound and sublime teachings of the Ancient Wisdom, instead of revealing. In fact, as I have heretofore stated in 1;he early part of this work, that ^^ Masonry is a pecidiar system of Morality, veiled in Allegory and illustrated by Symbols^ In the ancient da3rs these alle- gories and symbols were most carefully guarded from the Profane, and people who had not seen the Light, were never permitted to cross the threshold of the temples, wherein was practiced the secret teachings of
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 107
the ancient mysteries. Chrysostom, in his letter to Pope Innocent, informing him that on account of his opposing the empress, he excited quite a number of the people against him, who forced " their \\a.y into the most secret parts of the temple, even into the inner sanctuary, and there saw what was not proper for them to behold." But they could not have understood the meaning of the things the}'' had seen, no more than the uninitiated could, of the symbology of our own beloved Rite. In fact, some of our Initiates themselves do not understand the meaning of many of the symbols revealed to them, simply because they are looking bej'ond, instead of at, what lies before them. I am ver}' sorr}' to say that just as soon as our aspiring candidate receives his Morals and Dogmas, he turns on toward the end, instead of the beginning, and is thus retarded in his comprehension of the glories pertaining to our philosophy.
No one was allowed to enter the portals of the ancient mysteries for initiation who was not Just, Upright and True, and possessed of a ^
good moral character, who had been heard of " under the tongue of good report." They did not depend eutirel}^ upon the report or reputation ; but rather upon the true character of the man who sought initiation. The wise and good of all nations and peoples were allowed to enter into and receive the "Light " of initiation, irrespective of creed, caste or color, because the Universal Brotherhood of Man was one of the iirst things taught the Neophyte. Neither rank nor power would opeu the gates for initiation, to a.ny man, unless he was found worthy and well qualified. The pre-requisite was to be, JusT, Upright and True to all men. If he was found possessed of these requisites he was permitted to cross the threshold ; but before he could advance, from one degree to another, he Avould have to be well versed in the esoteric teachings of the preceding degrees, as well as the sjaubolic meaning of the various emblems pre- sented to him for inspection. Not until he had made suitable proficiency in the lesser, was he allowed to proceed to the higher and more sublime mysteries.
The Hierophants of ancient Egj^pt were very careful to thoroughly investigate the character of the Aspirant before permitting him to drink from the Sacred Fount of Ancient Egyptian Wisdom, and when P3'tha- goras presented himself for initiation, he underwent the most searching investigation, before being allowed to proceed with the initiator}^ cere-
108 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
monies. Historical records inform us that he displayed the most remark- able fortitude and incredible patience, before obtaining the privilege of searching through the profound philosophies of the Sacred Science. After having done so, like all good men who had preceded him, he began to realize the sublimity and grandeur of its profound philosophies. One of the ver}' first things taught was that all men were Brothers, and part of the Divine Whole.
When Plutarch endeavored to attain an entrance into the ancient mysteries by initiation, the Hierophants requested him to confess every wicked act committed during the whole course of his life. These Hiero- phants positively knew that initiation into their mysteries would never be allowed, nor the initiatory degree conferred upon any one who could not prove themselves to be good men and true, moral and virtuous. Unless they were able to do this they were not considered worthy of the high honor, and the consequence was, the sacred portals were closed against them.
Proclus said that initiation into the m3'steries was so siiblime that all those who had been selected to enter into the sacred precincts should prove themselves to be virtuous. He also said that, " It drew the souls of men from a material, sensual and merely human life, to join them in communion with the Gods."
In the "Book of the Dead," Chapter 125, called "The Hall of the Two Truths," the soul, in passing through Amenti, thus addresses the Lords of Truth : " I have not afflicted any. I have not told falsehoods. I have not made the laboring man do more than his task. I have not been idle. I have not murdered. I have not committed fraud. I have not injured the images of the Gods. I have not taken scraps of the bandages of the dead. I have not committed adultery. I have not cheated b}' false weights." Again he goes on to confess, saying: " That he has loved God, that he has given bread to the hungr}' and water to the thirsty, garments to the naked and a home to the homeless."' This examination, herein related, was no doubt the key to the examina- tion which the candidate had to pass through before being accepted and allowed to pass between the columns and enter the sacred portals of the Egyptian Mj^steries. We can now thoroughly understand liow difficult it was to obtain admission into the Mysteries, and wh}- it was
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 109
that tlie Hierophant was so searching in his questions, not permitting any one to take even the initiatory degrees who were not thoroughly virtuous, free from sin and vice. Minor offences were, no doubt, purged and purified during the initiatory services by passing through certain ceremonies atid in being baptized anezv, and eonsccratcd to RiGHT, Justice AND Truth. But to all such applicants as Constantine, Nero, and man}' others, the gates of the sublime Mysteries were forever closed, on account of their awful crimes, which could not be condoned.
The principal object of initiation was to instruct and assist the Neoph3'te in his search for " Light." As I have previously stated, " Light " meant Wisdom, Knowledge and Information. It is that knowledge which leads us all to a comprehension of the Divine Prin- ciple, the Supreme Essence, the source of all Life^ ^^g^'l (I'ld Love. It taught the Initiate to thoroughl}' understand himself, and the potential forces latent within him. It also teaches him that as his moral, intellectual and spiritual nature develops he will be far better enabled to consciousl}' know the intents and purposes of human life. In consequence of this he becomes more earnest and eager to help accom- plish that purpose in his own person, hy practicing LovE and SELFLESS- NESS. In loving his neighbor as himself and giving up the avaricious, grasping desire of self gratification.
The instructions received were not only on Nature and Man ; but all the various phenomena emanating from the unseen world, as well as in comprehending the Occult science. He would understand that what is seen is not the realit}', but only the manifestation of the unseen, which is the realit}'. The noiniicnoii. He was taught that the director of the Mind, the Higher Self, was the true Inunortal Man, the real /that continuall}- clothes itself with various personalities which live, and die, and pass away with each and every one. But, the true man., the Immortal " Thinker^'' lives through all and endures for ever. " We are all of us conscious that the individual, as we see him with our e3'es and perceive with our bodil}- senses, is not the actual personalit}-. If he should fall dead in our presence, there would still be a body to look upon as distinctly as before. But the something has gone forth which had imparted sensibilitj^ to the nerves and impulse to the muscles. That something was the real individual. It accompanied the body, but has
110 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
departed, leaving it behind." The " He " or " She " has thus given place to " /A"
We witness pheno^nena and may now ask to learn the nonmena. ("A Wilder.") The " voice of tJic real man comes to him by a process as direct and swift as bodily vision, or the sense of feeling, and this voice which never deceives him is Intuition.''^
Masonic Knowledge is the highest and most sacred deposit that has come down to us from the ancient days of Egyptian splendor and beyond. It is the most sacred and profound Wisdom of human life and experience, because it helps man to understand the presence of a mys- terious and inscrutable Power, the knowledge of which thrills him to the very centre of his being, and calls into existence the susceptibilities and faculties which appropriates knowledge gained along these lines for the upbuilding of his Higher Se/f, so that he may eventually attain to perfect wisdom and become at one with the Power that permeates the Kosmos. There is no question in my mind but that the problem of Life was a study for the candidate as well as Death and Reincarnation.
I quite agree with Brother J. D. Buck, 32°, in his " Mystic Masonry," page 51, wherein he says: "In the Ancient Mysteries, Life presented itself to the candidate as a problem to be solved, and not as certain propositions to be memorized, and as easily forgotten. The solution of this problem constituted all genuine initiation, and at every step or ' degree ' the problem expanded. As the vision of the candidate enlarged in relation to the problems and meaning of life, his powers of apprehension and assimilation also increased proportionately. This was also an evolution. It may reasonably be supposed that the lower degrees of such initiation concerned the ordinary affairs of life, I'iz ; a knowledge of the laws and processes of external nature ; the candidate's relation to these, through his physical body, and his relations on the physical plane, through his animal senses, and social instincts, to his fellow-men. These matters being learned, adjusted. Mastered; the candi- date passed to the next degree. Here he learned, theoretically, at first, the nature of the soul ; the process of its evolution, and began to unfold those finer instincts. If he was found capable of apprehending these, and kept his ' vow ' in the preceding degree, he presently discovered the evo- lution within him of senses and falculties pertaining to the ' soul-plane.'
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. Ill
His progress avouM -be instantly arrested, and his teacher would refuse all further instruction, if he was found negligent of the ordinary duties of life ; those to his family, his neighbors, or his country. All these must have been fully discharged before he could stand upon the threshold as a candidate for the Greater Mysteries ; for in these he became an unselfish Servant of Humanity as a whole ; and had no longer the right to bestow the gifts of knowledge or power that he possessed, upon his own kinsmen, or friends, in preference to strangers. In the higher degrees, he might be precluded from using these powers even to preserve his own life. Both the Master and his Powers belong to Humanity. If the reader wdll but reflect for a moment, how the tantalizing Jews called upon Jesus to 'save himself and come down from the cross,' if he were the Christ, it may be seen that this doctrine of Supreme Selflessness ought, long ago, to have been better apprehended by the Christian world ; for while it is a Divine Attribute, the Synonym of the Christ, it is latent in all human- ity and must be evolved as herein described.
" That which makes such an evolution seem to modern readers impossible, is, that it can not be conceived as being accomplished in a single life, nor can it be. It is the result of persistent effort, guided by /
high ideals, through many lives. Those who deny Pre-existence may logically deny all such evolution. There must, however, come a time when all the consummation is reached in one life, and this is the logical meaning of the saying of Jesus — It Is Finished."
There is no question but the Mysteries, the Ancient Wisdom, and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry exists for the express purpose of teaching man to understand himself; the attributes of Life and its Forces ; the soul and its attributes. Thought, Will, and Cognition, and Death and its meaning. It teaches us that every object in the manifested universe, even the tiniest atom that floats in the sunshine, has a soul within itself. This soul with Matter and Spirit, forms the Trinity which comprises Unity. It is this Soul, Energy, Force or vibration that causes every atom to float in the sunlit ray and manifests that Force b}? its own individual energy or motion. In fact, it is this Force within itself, which produces motion, and is contained in all bodies animate or inanimate. It is known to the Masters and Adepts as the Incarnation of the Force. This is a Universal Law.
112 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
Look around you, in every direction, and you will perceive that Force, Type, Idea, is ever changing, manifesting itself again and again in varying phases. In this way it is continually evolving into higher forms of development. Energy or Force is never annihilated, but continues its protean appearance, clothed in various garbs ; yet still moving onward in its upward march, ever finding variant forms with which to express or manifest itself. The self-same law applies to all Kingdoms ; but more especially to the Human Kingdom. Man being a part and parcel of the Divine Whole, cannot be separated from it no more than the tiniest grain of sand upon the sea-shore, without disturbing the Equilibrium of the Balance, and the Kosmos with it. Therefore human Energy, Force, or Soul, continually reincarnates, in order to grow and attain spiritual perfection and Wisdom, such as was reached by the Master and Adept, Jesus of Nazareth — The Christ. The Atliarva Veda says " Nothing is commenced or ended. Everything is changed or transformed. Life and Death are only modes of transformation which rule the vital molecules, from the plant up to Brahma himself." The Atharva-veda is one of the sacred books of the Hindus and of great antiquity.
In speaking of India and her sacred writings I am reminded of the many happ}^ years spent in that extraordinary country, studying the manners and customs of the people. I travelled from Calcutta to Bombay, not by cars alone, but by regular " Dak gharreh," and after leaving Moul- tan, by the steamer, down the river Indus and cars to Khurrachee, from thence by steamer to Bombay. I stopped at all the principal cities en route and while writing of the Ancient Mysteries and their teachings, memory carried me back to the celebrated cave temples in the immediate vicinity of Bombay, and especially to the Cave Temple of Elephanta, with its wonderful Trimurti.
" I am all in all " says the Trinitariun inscription in this ancient Temple, which is situated on the island of Elephanta, about four or five miles from Mazagong, a suburb of Bombay, where boats can be secured to take you across to the island. From the landing place up on the beach you can make the ascent by stone steps, winding their way up to the entrance, which is located about midway on the hillside from the beach. Here we found a level space fronting the entrance of the cave. On entering we found ourselves in a large hall, about one hundred and

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fifty feet long, by eighty feet wide, with four rows of very strong massive columns at regular distances, forming three avenues leading to the extreme end of the hall. The cave has been cut right into the face of the solid rock. There are halls or rooms, of much smaller dimensions, opening into the larger hall from each side of it. Very fine carvings beautify and adorn the large and massive pillars of the rock, left to support the tremendous weight of the mountain above, forming the roof. These pillars or columns are eighteen feet high, and have a majestic appearance ; in fact, everything here will have a tendency to surprise the traveller and fill him with awe and admiration. The ceiling or roof is flat, with very fine imitations of architraves running from column to column. These pillars differ entirely from the variant orders of Greece and Rome, in their peculiar shape, yet such columns seem to be quite in keeping with their surroundings, and very appropriate to their function, reminding one of the more massive pillars of ancient Egypt.
I saw here a large number of carvings relative to Hindu mythology, and one chamber with the Lingham and Yoni. Another small temple had a different style of columns, the walls adorned with sculptures, while the roof and cornice were ornamented with painted mosaic patterns, still bright with various colors. But the most striking, remarkable and artistically carved figures, are situated at the extreme end of the middle row of columns, in the large hall. It is the Trinuirti., or triune god. representing Brahma, Vishnu and Siva united in one body. It is eighteen feet high. These figures represent the Creator, Preserver and Destro3'er — Evolution^ Involution, and Brahma, the container of both — the whole surrounded b}^ minor figures cut deep into the solid rock. This trinity represents Brahma, the incomprehensible and infinite god, the substratum of all Being, just dawning into multiple existence — permitting himself to be seen in his first conceivable form. In this trinity VisJuui represents the idea of Evolution — the process by which the inner spirit unfolds and generates the universe of sensible forms. Siva represents the idea rnvolution, by which the thought and the sensi- ble universe are indrawn again into the unmanifested ; and Brahma represents that state which is neither Evolution nor Invohttion — and 3'et is both — existence itself, now first brought into the region of thought through relation to Vishnu and Siva. Each figure has its hand turned
114 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
upwards, resting upou the base of tlie ueck, holdiug au emblem : Vislmu the Lotus flower of generation, Brahma the gourd of fruition, and Siva the " good snake," ///e cobra dc cappcllo^ whose bite is certain death. The faces of Vishnu and Brahma are mild and serene, while the features of Siva are peculiarly characteristic of her destroying propensities and attributes. Siva also has the third eye — the eye of the interior vision of the universe, a vision that comes to the man who adopts the method of involution. This eye is situated in the Pineal gland and lies surrounded by the Nates, Velum Interpositum, Optic Thalmus, and the Third and Fourth Ventricle.
The ancient Egyptian and Hindu Hierophants never admitted a creation out of nothing, but, as Herbert Spencer says, " an evolution by gradual stages of the heterogeneous and differentiated, from the homo- geneous and undifferentiated." No mind can comprehend the Infinite and Absolute unknown, which has no beginning and shall have no end; which is both last and first, because, whether differentiated or withdrawn into itself, it ever is. All things emanate from a single Principle, a Primal source, which is the governing Force or Energy. The Moving Power which vibrates through all and controls all is Lifc^ Motion^ Vibration^ Hanuoiiy. It is That which permeates all, governing and controlling everj^thing in the Kosmos, Manifested or Unmauifested. It ever is, it ever will be.
Albert Pike, in " Morals and Dogmas," page 517, ct scq^ sa3^s, in speaking of the doctrine of the immortalit}^ of the soul, that " Egypt and Ethiopia in these matters learned from India, where, as everywhere else, the origin of the doctrine was as remote and untraceable as the origin of man himself Its natural expression is found in the language of Krishna, in the BaJigavad Gita. I mj^self never was non-existent, nor thou, nor these princes of the Earth ; uor shall we ever hereafter cease to be. . . . The soul is uot a thing of which a man may say, it hath been, or is about to be, or is to be hereafter ; for it is a thing without birth ; it is pre-existent, changeless, eternal, and not to be destro3^ed with this mortal frame. According to the dogma of antiquity, the thronging forms nf life are a series of purifying migrations, through which the Divine Principle reascends to the unity of its source. Inebriated in the bowl of Dionusos, and dazzled in the mirror of existence, the souls, those fragments or
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 115
sparks of Universal Intelligence, forgot their native dignity and passed into terrestrial frames they coveted. The most usual ty^& of the spirit's descent was suggested by the sinking of the Sun and Stars from the upper to the lower hemisphere. When it arrived within the portals of the proper empire of Dionusos, the God of this World, the scene of delusion and change, its individuality became clothed in a material form, and as individual bodies were compared to a garment, the World was the investiture of the Universal Spirit.
" In the course of Nature the Soul, to recover its lost estate, must pass through a series of trials and migrations. The scene of those trials is the Grand vSanctuary of Initiation, the world. Their primary agents are the elements and Dionusos, as Sovereign of Nature, or the sensous world personified, is official Arbiter of the Mysteries, and guide of the soul, which he introduces into the body and dismisses from it. He is the Sun, that liberator of the elements, and his spiritual mediation was suggested by the same imagery which made the zodiac the supposed path of the spirits in their descent and their return, and Cancer and Capricorn the gates through which they passed.
" Thus the scientific theories of the ancients expounded in the mysteries, as to the origin of the soul, its descent, its sojourn here below, and its return, were not a mere barren contemplation of the nature of the world, and about the soul, but a study of the means for arriving at the great object proposed — the perfecting of the soul ; and as a necessary consequence, that of morals and society. This earth to them was not the soul's home, but its place of exile. Heaven was its home, and there was its birthplace. To it, it ought incessantly to turn its eyes. Man was not a terrestrial plant. His roots were in Heaven. The soul had lost its wings, clogged by the viscosity of matter. It would recover them when it extricated itself from matter and commenced its upward flight.
" Matter being in their view, as it was in that of St. Paul, the principle of all the passions that trouble reason, mislead the intelligence, and stain the purity of the soul, the Mysteries taught man how to enfeeble the action of the matter on the soul, and to restore to the latter its natural dominion, and that the stains so contracted should continue after death, lustrations were used, fastings, expiations, macerations, con- tinence, and above all, initiations. Many of these practices were at first
116 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
merely symbolical, — Material signs indicating the moral purity required of the initiates, but they afterwards came to be regarded as actual pro- ductive causes of that purity.
" The effect of initiation was meant to be the same as that of •ohilosophy, to purify the soul of its passions, to weaken the empire of the body over the Divine portion of man, and to give him here below a happiness anticipatory of the felicity to be one day enjoyed by him, and of the future vision by him of the Divine Beings. And therefore Proclus and the other Platonists taught — ' that the mysteries and initiations withdrew souls from this mortal and material life, to re-unite them to the gods, and dissipated for the adepts the shades of ignorance by the splendors of the Deity.' Such were the precious fruits of the last degree of the Mystic Science — to see Nature in her springs and sources, and to become familiar with the causes of things and with real existences.
" Cicero tells us that ' The soul must exercise itself in the practice of the virtues, if it would speedil}' return to its place of origin. It should, while imprisoned in the body, free itself therefrom by the contemplation of superior beings, and in some sort be divorced from the body and the senses. Those who remain enslaved, subjugated by their passions, and violating the sacred laws of religion and society will reascend to Heaven, only after they shall have been purified through a long succession of ages. The initiate was required to emancipate himself from his passions, and to free himself from the hindrances of the senses of matter, in order that he might rise to the contemplation of the Deity, or of that incor- poreal and unchanging light in which live and subsist the causes of created natures.' Porph3^ry distinctly informs us that we must ' flee from everything sensual, that the soul may with ease reunite itself with God, and live happil}' wdth Him.'
"The object and aim of Initiation, Hierocles tells us, is 'To recall the soul to what is truly good and beautiful, and make it familiar there- with, and they its own. To deliver it from the pains and ills it endures here below, enchained in matter, as in a dark prison ; to facilitate its return to the celestial splendors and to establish it in the fortunate isles b}' restoring it to its first estate. Thereby, when the hour of death arrives, the soul, freed from its mortal garmenting, which it leaves behind it, as a legacy to earth, will rise buoj'antly to its home among the Stars, there to
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 117
retake its ancient condition, and approach toward the Divine nature as far as man ma}^ do.' "
This evolution of the soul has ever been a source of stud}^ in all ages and through all time. It is one of the most profound and sublime problems handed down to us from the Ancient Mysteries of India. It requires deep and earnest meditation on the part of the Initiate, in order that he may be enabled to trace // through variant molecular forms, to states of consciousness in the mind of man. Of course there is a con- sciousness in all things, and this consciousness varies in all the varying forms in the Kosmos. In tracing it through the various kingdoms, so as to come to an understanding of consciousness, we must carefully note that before plant life could exist upon the face of the earth the very Rocks and Stones would have to disintegrate, surrendering their lives for the purpose of building up higher forms to a higher grade or plane of intelligence, for though we may not recognize it, there is a consciousness hid deep within their stou}' covering. Everything in the Kosmos,. throughout all kingdoms, is conscious, /. peculiarly its own, and on its own plane of perception. We must not say that there is no consciousness in either mineral or vegetable, because we are unable to perceive any. ''There is no such thing as dead or blind matter, as there is no blind or unconscious law." By the disintegration of the molecular form of the mineral, life leaps forth into a higher stage of development, awakening to a new birth, a new revelation, and a new vibration of harmony fitted to its new conditions, rejoicing in its free- dom, thus demonstrating the first evolution and the first law of self- sacrifice. Before this disintegration of the Rock or Stone we may not cognize either sound or motion within its stony heart ; because, it is, as it were, sleeping, lying dormant, awaiting the magic touch of Dionusos to transform it into a higher form, and possibl}^ into a di^erent kingdom; for out of the very dust of the earth comes man himself, the head of the animal kingdom, and from the ver}^ self same st2iff comes plant-life in the vegetable kingdom, with consciousness and feeling more full}^ developed. No one can deny this fact!
Do you mean to tell me that in plucking a rose from its bush it suffers no pain ? Do you not see the very life-blood of the plant ooze forth from the fracture ? Because yon do not see any signs of
118 EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY.
consciousness, does that prove that it has none? I tell you, my dear Brother and readers, all nature pulses with Li'fe and Consciousness^ and each form manifests as much of the One Life as it is capable of expressing. What is Man that he can despise the more limited mani- festations, when he compares himself, as life expression, to that which soars above him in infinite heights of being, which he can estimate still less than the rose can estimate him.
Bvery flower that blooms, every plant or blade of grass that lifts itself into light and sunshine, has its degree of intelligence. Intelli- gence is as common as the atmosphere itself, and the onl}^ difference is, some forms have more life than others. Spirit precedes time and space, builds its own structure, and makes its own environment. The unity is so unbroken that the tiniest gnat carries on its back the key to the universe. Life, traced to its lowest forms, always discloses unity, whether in the stone, the clod of earth, the growing tree, a herd of animals, or a host of men, it is the same gift. The universe is a single expression of that unity.
Every star and planet that glitters in the starry vault above is a ball of dirt like the earth. The sun has no fuel that our earth can- not duplicate ; neither can Saturn, Jupiter or Uranus impose upon us with any airs of superiorit3\ A drop of water and a drop of human blood have their origin in the same corpuscle. The fungus and the oak on which it grows ; the animalcule and the scientist who studies it are alike. From out the slime and filth of the cesspool comes forth the lil}^ in all its purit}' and splendor. Out from the refuse of the stable comes the blush of the rose and its fragrance. Filth and fer- tility are the same word. So we climb the evolving ladder, from the rock, dust, plant, animal, to man. Out of the lowliest forms man has come to be something and he will come to be much more. He is at the end of a long series of forms, through whose natural gradations he has passed, each stage of which has been toward a higher trans- formation. Evolution has forced him up a long ascending wa}-, and still pushes him on; for he is j-et bound to the soil, from whence his body came, much earthl};- matter loading him down and binding him fast to earth-life through his animal nature. In this present stage of evolution we are but human animals, parading as men.
EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 119
Much of the human structure is a legacy from inferior organisms, which, in our next advent, we shall make superfluous. Such are some of the esoteric teachings of the Ancient Mysteries. Such thoughts have existed from time immemorial, and such thoughts the human mind still speculates upon, for they have come down to us from the "Land of Gobi," the land of ancient wisdom whose Hierophants ever strived to place their Brothers upon the path that led on to a knowledge of Birth, Life, Death, and the Evolution of the Soul.
Birth is the emerging or coming forth from the unmanifested into a higher plane of spiritual unfoldment where experience is gained through suffering and pain, where Man is refined like gold in the crucible. Life is a battle to be fought bj^ INIan, a battle of the spiritual against the Material and Sensual, or in other words it is a battle that is continually going on between his lower animal passional nature and his Higher Spiritual Self DEATH is a transformation, a disintegration of molecular form, or a return to the unmanifested universe. The teachings of the Sacred Mysteries inform us that '' The Soul of Man is Immortal ; and not the result of organization, nor an aggregate of modes of action of matter, nor a succession of phenomena and perceptions ; but an Existence^ one and identical, a living spirit, a spark of the Great Central Light, that hath entered into and dwells in the bod}- ; to be separated therefrom at death, and return to God who gave it ; that doth not disperse or vanish at death, like breath or a smoke, nor can be annihilated ; but still exists and possesses activity and intelligence, even as it existed in God before it was enveloped in the body.
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EGYPT, THE CRADLE OF ANCIENT MASONRY. 1:^3