Preface

Produced by Barbara Tozier, Keith Edkins and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's note: A few typographical errors have been corrected: they are listed at the end of the text. * * * * * MYSTICISM AND ITS RESULTS; BEING AN INQUIRY INTO THE USES AND ABUSES OF SECRECY, AS DEVELOPED IN THE INSTRUCTION AND ACTS OF SECRET SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATIONS, OR CONFRATERNITIES, WHETHER SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS, OR POLITICAL, FROM THE BEGINNING OF HISTORY TO THE PRESENT DAY, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE MASSES OF MANKIND, THEN AND NOW. BY JOHN DELAFIELD, ESQ., OF MISSOURI, AUTHOR OF "AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF THE ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA." SAINT LOUIS: PUBLISHED BY EDWARDS & BUSHNELL, NO. 97 FOURTH STREET, TEN BUILDINGS. * * * * * 1857. * * * * * Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, BY JOHN DELAFIELD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the District of Missouri. * * * * * SAVAGE & McCREA, STEREOTYPERS, 13 Chambers Street, N.Y. * * * * * TO MY ALMA MATER, COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK, This Essay is respectfully Inscribed, BY THE WRITER. * * * * * {5} PREFACE. "THE WORD WAS GOD." That "WORD IS TRUTH." Truth can never change, or it would contradict itself. Past, present, and future, must be governed by immutable laws. Experience is acquired by the careful study of history, and the present condition of all things. All is governed now by that same law of truth, which was from the beginning of the world, and ever shall be. What serious lessons, then, may be learned by a careful examination of past ages; and how useful may they not be to us and our children for future ages? We can only judge of that which is to come hereafter, by studying the past, and carefully noting the present. This little book has collated some facts, perhaps, somewhat out of the usual range of reading; but which it is sincerely trusted may be of practical {6} utility. If it only induces thought, study, or research, by intellectual and honest minds, its object will have been attained. The writer can only claim the indulgence of the reader to consider the essay suggestive--not didactic. Many a far abler pen may enlarge upon and carry out the ideas presented. May it be J. D. * * * * * {7} CONTENTS. * * * * *