The Anthon Libf^ry, COLLECTED BY CHARLES ANTflON, Professor of Gi-reeli a,nd Latin in Oolumbia College. Purchased 6// CorueU University, 1868. Cornell University Liorary arV14703 Mysticism and its fefu'ts; 3 1924 031 432 135 olin,anx Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031432135 MYSTICISM A.NT> ITS RESULTS BEING AN INQUIRY INTO THE USES AND ABUSES OP SECRECY, AS DEVELOPED IN THE INSTEIFCTION AND ACTS OF SECKET SOCIE- TIES, ASSOCIATIONS, OR CONEKATEKNITIES, WHETHER SOo'lAL, RELiaiOUS, OK POLITICAL, FROM THE BEGINNING OF HIS- TORY TO THE PRESENT DAT, AND THEIR EFFECTS ON THE MASSES OF MANKIND, THEN AND NOW. By JOHN DELAFIELD, Esq., OF jTlSSOtlRI, AUTHOR OF " AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OP THE ANTIQUITIES OF AMERICA.* SAINT LOUIS : PUBLISHED BY EDWARDS & BUSHNELL, NO. 97 FOURTH STREET, TEN BUILDINGS. 1857. Entered, nccording to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, By JOHN DELAFIELD, in the Clerk's Ofiice of the District Couvt of the United States, in and for the District of Miseouri. Q lW SAVAGK & MoCltKA,. STKREOTYPF.KS, 13 Chaiiihera Street, N Y. TO MY ALMA MATEK, COLUMBIA COLLEGE, NEW YORK, €lii3 feaij is rtsprrtftillii Srairibir, BY The Writer. PREFACE. " The wobd was God." That " woed is Truth." Truth can never change, or it would contradict itself. Past, present, and future, must be governed by im- mutable 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 chil- dren 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 b PREFACE. 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 indul- gence 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. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Secrecy; its Uses and Abuses. — Mystery; its Definition. — Mysticism, and its Definition page 9 CHAPTER II. The Distinction between the Early Elohistic and Jehovahstic Ages of Primeval Patriarchal Times. — The Secrecy of Ori- ginal Worship on Mountain Tops. — The Collation and Recon- ciliation of the Patriarchal Traditions brought together by Moses. — The Commencement of the Jehovahstic Age. — The Origin of Mythology. — The Magi; their Organization and Modes of Worship. — The Deification of Nimrod, and the Source of Political Power at its Beginning. — The Secret Writings they adopted. — The Dead InVokers. — The Mys- teries of Egypt, Greece, and Rome 16 CHAPTER III. The Origin of the Cabbalistse ; the Chaldeans, and their Antag- onism to Patriarchal Tradition. — The Hand-Writing on Bel- shazzar's Wall. — The Secret Writings of the Cabbalist*. — How Daniel read the Same. — Ezra. — The Origin of the Masoretic Text. — Zoroaster. — His Refoimation and Recon- struction of the Religion of the Magi. — Pythagoras, and his "League." — The Thugs. — The Druids 41 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. The Discipline of the Secret in the Origin of the Christian Church. — The Inqaisition. — The Mystics. — The Rise of Monachism. — The Mendicant Orders. — The Orders of Knight- hood. — The Jesuits, their Organization and History. — The Bosicmcians, &c page 71 CHAPTER V. The Struggle between an alleged Jus Divinum Eegum, and Pop- ular Sovereignty. — And the Efforts now attempted to destroy our Grand Experiment of Self-Goyemment. — Practical Re- sults 104 MYSTICISM, AND ITS RESULTS. CHAPTER I. Secrecy; its Uses and Abuses. — Mystery; its Definition. — Mysti- cism, and its Definition. It is not true, as has been sometimes said, that ■wherever there is secrecy there is error. Secrecy, like most all else, hath its uses and abuses : its uses, as developed in modesty and domestic vir- tue, in religious meditation, self-examination, and prayer, and in prudence in the affairs of life : its abuses, in prudery, asceticism, superstitious awe, un- due veneration of power, and when used as a cloud to conceal crime so hideous that nothing but the truth of God, vindicated by human laws founded thereon, directed by wisdom, can dispel it. Virtue and modesty shrink from public gaze. Each looks alone to its innate sense, the gift of God, and to the sole approval of the great " I am." The hidden sincere aspirations of the heart are known only to Him who " breathed into man the 10 MYSTICISJI, breath of life, and he became a living soul." These are a secret between the created being and its Al- mighty Father. At the lonely hour, when the bur- dened soul, knowing no earthly refuge from over- whelming troubles, but a mightier Hand than that of man, seeks on bended knee and with penitential tear, a blessing from on high, no word is spoken, no sound uttered save the sob from a contrite heart. The aspiration has gone forth inaudibly to Him who said to all mankind, then and for future ages, " Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."* "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire. Uttered or unexpressed, The motion of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast. It is the burden of a sigh, The falling of a tear, The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near."t What knoweth the outer world of this ? Yet wrong can not exist in such secret communion be- tween a penitent heart and its Maker. Pure religious meditation, leading us from earth to heaven, is only promoted by secret study and reflection in solitude. Neither philosophy nor religion can be cultivated in the midst of the vortices of commerce or other busi- ness requiring constant intercourse with hundreds of * St. Matt. xi. 28. t Montgomery. H)Tnn 134. Book of Common Prayer. AND ITS RESULTS. 11 men during the day, nor in tlie whirl of fashion in the evening. Thus, then, do "we trace one of the uses of secrecy. Both its use and its abuse we shall hereinafter find exemplified in marked effects not only on individual minds, but also on the masses of mankind in past history : its use, in the development of true piety : its abuse, in asceticism, superstition, and overweening spiritual power resulting in crimes, which were " a sin unto death." Another abuse of secrecy has been manifested in means heretofore employed in the con- stant effort to obtain and maintain worldly power. This was by affecting the imagination and blinding the reason of the masses. Some time ago, an ephem- eral work was published, even the name of which is not recollected by this writer, wherein was a picture showing the section of a handsome tent with curtains closely drawn. Within, is a man eating and feastiiig like other mortals. Without, is a stand on which are exposed to view the usual emblems and insignia of royalty, before which there is a kneeling crowd. An admirable illustration ! True it is, that " no man is a hero to his valet-de-chambre." Fashionable wealth and power depend upon exclusiveness to accomplish their usual attendant influences. Royalty hides every hour in secrecy from public gaze, except when it occa- sionally becomes necessary to treat the subjects to a mere pageant or show of military costume and out- side appearances. When Lola Montes displayed to 12 MYSTICISM, the world the mere humanity of the old king of Bavaria, where had he cany prestige left ? Schamyl has attained his extraordinary influence and power by his seclusion, asceticism, and pretended revela- tions ; and bravery having crowned his efforts, he is a favorite of fortune, and the idol of a superstitious veneration. What did not Mohammed accomplish in the same manner ? But, in illustration of the oppo- site effect, so well known to the sad experience of all, hath not a mightier One testified that, " a prophet hath no honor in his own country ?"* But doth not also common prudence in worldly affairs demand the use of secrecy ? What good general will detail, even to his own forces, and still less make public for the use of his adversary, his plans and intentions for an ensuing campaign? — what business man communicate to the public or to his rivals his hard thought and well- planned speculation?— what inventor publish his new machine or discovery until he has secured his patent-right ? In what follows, then, let us discriminate between the use and abuse of secrecy ; so that, by the lessons of the past and the present, we may be safely guided in our course through the future. Before going into matters of historic detail, it were well to understand the definition of the word " mys- tery." * St. Jolin, Gospel, iv. 44. AND ITS RESULTS. 18 Many suppose it to mean " something which is incomprehensible." This is all a mistake. " MutfTJi^iov" means simply " a revealed secret." In other words, " mystery," which we derive from the Greek word quoted, means neither more nor less than a secret revealed and explained to us. A man of mature years and finished education knows that which no school-boy can comprehend. To the elder a secret has been revealed. He is in possession of the mystery. To the younger it is yet a secret, not incomprehensible, but which can only be attained in the progress of learning. To the scientific many of the mysteries of nature are unfolded, but they are a secret to the world at large. To those Christians in the earlier days of the church, who had attained its highest instruction, and after the " Ite, missa est" had dismissed the rest of the congregation, remained to participate in -the "pure offering" (or "clean obla- tion") prophesied by Malachi* to be thereafter offered in every place to Him whose name thenceforth should be great among the Gentiles — to them "it was given to know the mysteries' of God :"f not to under- stand things incomprehensible. That would be a contradiction in terms : a thing impossible. How can a person comprehend that which passeth all un- derstanding ? But it may be said, there are things which are incomprehensible. Not so. They may be a secret to us while, in this school-house, the earth, the *Mal. i. 2. t 1 Corinthians ii. 7-10, 12, 13, 16. Ibid. iv. 1, 5. 14 JIYSTICISM, pedagogue Necessity is teaching us only the rudi-. ments of the laws of God as developed in nature or in mind ; but, when the scintilla divinitatis , hidden in these " earthen Tessels,"* shall have been set free, and (while " the dust returns to the earth as it was") rises unto Him that breathed into us that " spiritus" or "breath of life" — when we shall hereafter have been " newly born" into a spiritual state of higher existence — then may we hope that what is secret to us now, may become a mystery or revealed secret to us hereafter. It is not all of life to terminate our existence on this earth. This is but the school-house in the commencement of eternity. These mysteries, now secrets to us, are created and maintained by the fixed laws of Him " who is without variableness _or shadow of turning." The revelations thereof belong to a higher kingdom, which " flesh and blood can not inherit," yet in which every soul "shall be made alive. "f Then shall these secrets be unfolded in pro- portion to the cultivation of the mind and talents here : for the unchangeable laws of God have placed all matter in constant and regular mutation ; and whether of matter or of mind, all is governed by a certain law of progress, compelling us to attain excel- lence and strength only by constant endeavors to surmount difficulties : and it is thus alone we can, by severe study and deep meditation, in investigating these laws of mutation and progress in things physical and * 2 Corinthians iv. 7. t 1 Corinthians xv. 22. AND ITS RESULTS. 15 moral, bring the mind, even in this life, to a nearer approximation to, and capability of, appreciating the wonderful truths we must hereafter learn. As in all other laws of God, the cultivation of our talents must then carry its proportionate reward hereafter.* Let us then examine into the uses and abuses of secrecy in past history, and at the present day — but more particularly will these be manifested by " Mys- ticism ;" by which is meant, the revelation of leurn- ing, sodal, religious, and political, the teaching of which has been, and is, preserved secret from the ivorld, by societies, associations, and confraternities.] * St. Matthew xxv. 14 to 29, inclusive. t St. Paul (Eom. xvi. 25, 26) defines "mystery" as above given : " Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gos- pel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets," &c. 16 MYSTICISM, CHAPTER II. The Distinction between the Early Elohistic and Jehovahstic Ages of Primeval Patriarchal Times. — The Secrecy of Original "Worship on Mountain Tops. — The Collation and Reconciliation of the patriarchal Traditions brought together by Moses. — The Com- mencement of the Jehovahstic Age. — The Origin of Mythology. — The Magi; their Organization and Modes of Worship. — The Deification of Nimrod, and the Source of Political Power at its Beginning. — The Secret Writings they adopted. — The Dead In- vokers. — The Mysteries of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. In a critical study of the books of Moses two eras seem to be discernible. The earlier, the Elohistic, when God was only known by the name, " Elohim." The latter, the " JehoYahstic," beginning at a later period.* Though not altogether germain to our subject, may we here be permitted to inquire — par parenthese — whether this simple rule does not furnish to us the means of reconciliation of apparent contradictions ? All instruction originally was traditional alone. The patriai'ch was priest and teacher, as well as ruler of his tribe. Each handed down to his successor the * Exodus vi. 2, 3. " And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord [or Jehovah], and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty ; but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them." AND ITS RESULTS. 17 traditions he had received from his ancestors orally. As tribes became nomadic, or else sought permanently- new settlements and homes, traditions in course of time necessarily became variant. Moses seems hon- estly to have collated these traditions, and has, no doubt, given them in their respective versions as he received them from Jethro, his father-in-law, and from the patriarchal instruction among the elders of his people in Egypt. Thus we can recognize those in which the name Elohim is used as being of much earlier date than the same tradition differently told, where the word Jehovah indicates the name of Deity. For instance, we find in one place* the command of Grod to Noah to take the beasts and fowls, &c., into the ark by sevens. But again, in the same chapter,f we find them taken only by pairs. Are these not variant traditions of one event ? So, of the story of Abraham passing off his wife for his sister before Pharoah, king of Egypt, J and also before Abimfelech, king of Gerar,|| and the farther tradition of Isaac and Kebecca having done the same thing before Abimelech, king of Gerar.§ Are not these variant traditions of one fact? The legal experience of the writer for many years,, convinces him that no two persons with- out collusion view a transaction generally exactly alike. Frequently — and each equally sincere and honest — they widely vary in their testimony. Col- * Genesis vii. 2, 3 t Ibid vii. 9. J Ibid xii. II Ibid XX. § Ibid xxvi. 18 MYSTICISM, lusioE may produce a story without contradiction. Slight discrepancies show there is no fraud, only that the witnesses occupied different stand points, or gave more or less attention to what was the subject matter. But, asking pardon for this digression, let us re- turn to our theme. We know little or nothing about the teaching of the patriarchs in the Elohistic age. Neither writing nor sculpture thereof existed in the, time of Moses, except, perhaps, the lost book of Enoch, or, unless — which we are inclined to doubt — the book of Job had just before his era been reduced to writing by the Idumean, Assyrian, or Chaldean priesthood. We find at that period that sacrifices were offered on mountain tops. Why ? Abraham went to such a place to offer up his son. Was it not for secrecy in the religious rite ? If the earliest instruction was from God, whose truth is .unchangeable and eternal, were not the earliest sacriiices offered in secret by reason of the same com- mand which subsequently obliged the high priest of his chosen people to offer the great sacrifice in secret within the veils, first of the Tabernacle, afterward of the Temple ? The Elohistic age ended with the first official act of Moses, after he, also, had met with Aaron on " the mount of God."* A new era then commenced. As men dispersed * Exodus iv. 27, 28. " And the Lord said unto Aai-on, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him." AND ITS RESULTS. 19 themselves over the earth, the original belief in the one true God (Monotheism) was lost, and people fell into the worship of many deities (Polytheism), ado- ring the visible works of creation, more particularly the sun and the stars of heaven, or else reverencing the operative powers of nature as divine beings. Faith in the one Great Jehovah was preserved by the children of Israel alone. Idols were erected within gorgeous temples. With the Chaldean, Phoe- nician, and Assyrian, Moloch began the dreadful cruelty of human sacrifices, chiefly of children. If, at first, the image of the idol was only a visible sym- bol of a spiritual conception, or of an invisible power, this higher meaning was lost in progress of time in the minds of most nations, and they came at length to pay worship to the lifeless image itself. The priests alone were acquainted with any deeper mean- ing, but refused to share it with the people ; they re- served it under the veil of esoteric (secret) doctrines, as the peculiar appanage of their own class. They invented endless fables which gave rise to Mythology. They ruled the people by the might of superstition, and acquired wealth, honor, and power, for them- selves.* We arrive then at nearly the culminating point of Egyptian priestcraft, the days of " wise men," " sorcerers," and " magicians."! Such men ever * "Weber. Outlines of Universal History. Am. Ed., p. 4. t Exodus vii. 11. " Then Pharoah also called the wise men, and the sorcerers : now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments." •20 MYSTICISJI, have, and we presume ever will employ secrecy as the chief element of their clever jugglery. Mankind love to be deceived. Let an Adrian, Blitz, or Alex- ander — while they tell you, and you well know it, that their tricks are a deception — put forth notices of an exhibition, and they will attract crowds, where an Arago, or a Faraday, would not be listened to. Maelzel's automata, or Vaucanson's duck, will attract the world, when Bacon's, or Newton's, or Laplace's works may remain in dust on the book-shelves. Hu- man nature is always the same, and thus it was in the days of Moses and Pharaoh. The wise men, sor- cerers, and magicians, held undisputed sway, not only over the superstitions of the people, but over their educated monarchs and princes. Egypt possessed, at an inconceivably early period, numberless towns and villages, and a high amount of civilization. Arts, sciences, and civil professions, were cherished there, so that the Nile-land has generally been regarded as the mysterious cradle of human culture ; but the sys- tem of castes checked free development and continu- ous improvement. Everything subserved a gloomy religion and a powerful priesthood, who held the people in terror and superstition. Their doctrine, that, after the death of man, the soul could not enter into her everlasting repose unless the body were pre- served, occasioned the singular custom of embalming the corpses of the departed to preserve them from decay, and of treasuring them up in the shape of AND ITS RESULTS. 21 mummies in shaft-like passages and mortuary cham- bers. Through this belief, the priests, who, as judges of the dead, possessed the power of giving up the bodies of the sinful to corruption, and by this means occasioning the transmigration of their souls into the bodies of animals, obtained immense authority. Not- withstanding the magnificence of their architectural productions, and the vast technical skill and dexterity in sculpture and mechanical appliances which they display, the Egyptians have produced but little in literature or the sciences ; and even this little was locked up from the people in the mysterious hierogly- phical writing, which was understood by the priests alone.* The following translation is a quotation from a Latin work : " Among the ancient Egyptians, from whom we learn the rudiments of speech, besides the three common kinds of letters, other descriptions of characters are used which have been generally conse- crated to their peculiar mysteries. In a dissertation on this subject, that celebrated antiquarian Qconditor stromatum), Clement, of Alexandria, teaches in his writings, thus : ' Those who are taught Egyptian, first, indeed, learn the grammar and chirography called letter-writing, that is, which is apt for ordinary cor- respondence ; secondly, however, that used by the priests, called sacred writing, to commemorate sacred things ; the last also, hieroglyphic, meaning sacred sculpture, one of the first elements of which is cyriol- * Weber. Outlines Univ. Hist. § 12, p. 12. 22 MYSTICISM, ogism, meaning, properly speaking, enunciating truth by one or another symbol, or in other words, portray- ing the meaning by significant emblems.' With Cle- ment agrees the Arabian, Abenephi, who uses this language : (This Arabic writing is preserved in the Vatican library, but riot as yet printed : it is often quoted by Athanasius Kircher, in his Treatise on the Pamphilian Obelisk, whence these and other matters stated by us have been taken.) ' But there were four kinds of writing among the Egyptians : First, that in use among the populace and the ignorant ; secondly, that in vogue among the philosophers and the educa- ted ; thirdly, one compounded of letters and symbols, without drawn figures or representations of things ; the fourth was confined solely to the priesthood, the fig- ures or letters of which were those of birds, by which they represented the sacred things of Deity.' From which last testimony we learn that erudite Egyptians used a peculiar and different system of writing from that of the populace, and it was for the purpose of teaching their peculiar doctrines. For example, they show that this writing consisted of symbols, partly of opinions and ideas, partly of historic fables accommo- dated to a more secret method of teaching. But Clement, of Alexandria, went further. In book v. of Antiquities {stromata, ' foundation of things'), he says : ' All who controlled theological matters. Bar- barian as well as Greek, have concealed their prin- ciples, hiding the truth in enigmas, signs, symbols, as AND ITS RESULTS. 23 well as allegories, and also in tropes, and have handed them down in various symbols and methods.' "* This passage led subsequently to the brilliant discoveries of Champollion. Who, then, were the " erudite Egyptians" who used a peculiar system of writing " for the purpose of teaching their peculiar doctrines ?" Who were * Christ. Breithanrpt. Prof. &c. De arte decifratoria. Helmstadtii, apud Ch. Fried. Weygand. cloloccxxxvii. p. 13. "Apud yeteres -35gyptios, vt ab Ms dicendi initimn faciamus, prseter Tulgares litteras, tria adhuc alia characterum genera celebrantur, quibus ad mysteria sua condenda fuerant usi. Diserte hoe Celebris ille stromatum eonditor, Clem. Alexandrinus (lib. v. Stromatum, pag. 563, edit. Paris, de an. 1612), docet, ita scribens. s : 'Qai docentur ab -iEgyptlis primiim quidem discunt^gyptiarum litterarum viam ac rationem, qute vocatur tiri^oXoypa^i/ti;, i. e., apta ad scribendas epistolas : secundam antem, sacerdotalem, qua vtuntur iEpoypajjjjiartiSj i. e., qui de rebus sacris scribunt : vltimam autem itpoyXv^ntiji', i. e., sacram, quse inseulpitur, scripturam, cuius vna quidem est per prima elementa /rop ioXoyi«ii, i. c, propria loquens, altera vero symbolica, i. a., per signa significans.' Cum Clementi conferendus est Arabs Abenephi, cuius verba ita se habent : ( Scriptum hoc Arabicum asseruatur in bibliotheca Vaticana, et typis Dondum expressum est ; ab Ath. Kirchero autem in Obelisco Pamphilio ssepius citatur : ynde etiam ea, quEe hie ex illo adduximus, depromta sunt. ) ' Erant autem JSgyptus quatuor litterarum genera ; primum erat in vsu apud populum et idiotas ; secundum apud plii- losophos et sapientes : tertium erat mixtum ex litteris et symbolis sive imaginibus: quartum Tsupabatur a sacerdotalibus, erant que littersB ayium, quibus sacramenta indicabant divinitatis.' Ex quo posteriori testamento hoc discimus, quod erudite inter JEgyptios pecaliarl et a communibus litteris diuerso spripturse genere vsi sint ad doctrinas suas propagandas. Vti exempla ostendunt, constitit hoec scriptura partim ex certis sententiis et argutis symbolis, partim ex historicis fictionibus, secretiori docendi methodo accommodatis." * * * * " Omnes, qui de rebus diuinis tractarunt, tam Barbari quam Gr£eci rerum quidem principia occultaverint : voritatom autem senig- matibus, signisque & symbolis, & allegoriis rursus, & metaphoris, & quibusdam tropis modisque tradiderunt." f24 MYSTICISM, tliese " magi," "wise men," " sorcerers," and " magi- cians" ? Nowhere do we find Pharaoh in the midst of his troubles calling for a priest. It is always for the wise men, magicians, and sorcerers. Were they not the priests ? — were they not those who controlled the mysteries — who practised divination? When Moses and Aaron cast down their rods, the magicians of Egypt " also did in like manner with their enchant- ments," and the result was the same.* When Moses smote the waters that they became blood, the acute- ness of the priests, or magi, in their mysteries taught them a lesson whereby they were able to do the same.f When the frogs came up on Pharaoh and on all his people, and on all his servants, and covered the land of Egypt, we learn " the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. "J If the ancient Egyptians were like their descendants, it is singular the magi could not accom- plish the next plague, that is, of lice. But here their power ended. The magi originated in Media. Ac- cording to oriental custom, to them was intrusted the preservation of scientific knowledge, and the perform- ance of the holy exercises of Religion. Afterward, in a special sense, the magi were a caste of priests of the Modes and Persians, deriving the name of Pehlvi : Mag, or Mog, generally signifies in that language, a priest. They are expressly mentioned by Herodotus as a Median tribe. Zoroaster was not their founder, * Exodus vii. 11, 12. t Ibid vii. 22. J Ibid yiii. 7. AND ITS RESULTS. 25 but was their reformer, and tlie purifier of their doc- trines. The Magi of his time were opposed to his innovations ; and they, therefore, were condemned by him. When afterward, however, they adopted his reforms, he effected their thorough organization, divi- diug them into Apprentices, Masters, and Perfect Masters. Their study and science consisted in ob- servation of their holy rites, in the knowledge of their sacred forms of prayer, and liturgies by which Ormuzd was worshipped, and in the ceremonies at- tendant on their prayers and sacrifices. They only were permitted to act as mediators between God and man. To them alone was the will of God declared. They only could penetrate the future. And they alone predicted the future to those who sought of them therefor. In later days the name Magi became synonymous with sorcerer, magician, alchemist, &c.* ' gi()einif(^f3 6on»etfattong=Sa-icon. J^ijtn unb S3onn. 1827. Vol. 7, page 432. „SDlagict, SDlogie, ein urftjtungtit^ mcbtfct)cr SSoIfaftamm, bcm, in ©ittc be^ Drients jufolgc, bie (Srt;altung bet Wiffcnfc^afttic^cn iJenntnijfc iinb bie 3lu3u6ung ber Ijeiligen @c= Briiu^e bev SieKgion iiberlajfcn wax; nac^§er ttn fpcjieHcn ©inne bie 5|}ric|l£tla(le bev $c£fev unb SJJeber. Set Stame fomitit aug bent '45el)tci; 2)Jag obcr SWog ^eift in biefer ©pca^e nbevfjauft ein 5Prie= |ier. Sl(g eignct ©tamm ber SWebec werbcn fte auiixuctliA) Bon §e5 robot ertoa^nt. 3oroajiec tear nic^t in ©tifter, fonbern nur ber Sdefotmator bev SJJagiev ober Bictme^r i^rer Ce^rfd^e. iDa^er wibers fe|ten fic^ bie ju fciner 3cit Botf;anbencrt SKogier anfang3 fcinen Sleuerungen unb werben son i[;nt Berfl^udjt. Sla^bem fie feine S8er= Scfferuugcn angenommcn fatten, organifirte er aud) t^re inneren (Stn= ridjtungen unb t^eilte fie trt Sefjriinge, 2Jiei)ier unb BoKcnbete Sfftei^ |Jer. 3§r ©tubium unb i^re'Sifitcnfc^aft befJanb in ber ffleobadjtung ber fjeiligcn ®e6rau^e, in ber ^enntnig ber ^citigen @eBetforme(n obcr Siturgien, mit bcnen Dnnujb Beref^vt iBurbe, unb ber Bei @e= 2 26 MYSTICISM, The magi of Egypt were the priests, the founders and preservers of the mysteries of the secret grades of instruction, and of the hieratic and hieroglyphic writings and sculptures. In secret they were the priesthood. In public, in religious matters, the same. But in public secular affairs they seem to be recog- nised as Magi. When mythology was invented, most of the gods, if not all of them, were received as sjonbolical, physi- cal beings, the poets made of them moral agents; and as such they appear in the religions of the people of earlier days. The symbolical meaning would have been lost, if no means had been provided to insure its preservation. The mysteries, it seems, afforded such means. Their great end, therefore, was to preserve the knowledge of the peculiar attributes of those divinities which had been incorporated into the popu- lar religion under new forms ; what powers and ob- jects of nature they represented; how these, and how the universe came into being ; in a word, cos- mogonies, like those contained in the Orphic instruc- tions. But this knowledge, though it was preserved by oral instruction, was perpetuated no less by sym- bcten unb D^jfctn gc6vaucf)tic5en 3crcmoiiicn. Slur burd) fie lomite man (ScBcte uiib D^ifet bcr ®ottt)cit bavicingen; «ur jie warcn bie ■fllittctvievfcncn jtoifdjen bcv ©ott^cit unb bnt atJcnf(!^en ; nitr i^neii cjfcnSarte jnic itjcen SDitfat ; nuv fie I'ticltctt in bie Sutunft, unb cnt^dten fie bem, bet 6ci it)neu banmdj forfctjte. ©pater ^at man SBlagicr iibert)aui3t, 3auberer, SEBunbert^dter, ©olbmac^er unb bevgt. genannt." AND ITS RESULTS. 27 bolic representations and usages ; wHcli, at least in part, consisted of sacred traditions and fables. " In the sanctuary of Sais," says Herodotus (1. c), " rep- resentations are given by night of the adventures of the goddess ; and these are called by the Egyptians mysteries ; of which, however, I will relate no more. It was thence that these mysteries were introduced into Greece."* The temples of India and of Egypt seem to be identical in architecture and in sculpture. f Both nations seem to have sprung from the old As- syrian stock.:]: The magi of both countries appear to have had a common origin; and their teachings must have been, therefore, traditionally the same. We may, then, presume that there were three grades in the instructions of these mysteries, by whatever name they may have been called — whether Appren- tices, Masters, and Perfect Masters, or otherwise ; that they were sacred in their character ; and that their symbolic meanings were revealed in these Mys- teries, and in no other manner, while they were kept a secret from the world at large. But this was not all. They spread, with emigration and commerce, into all then known countries. Their common origin, or at least that of most of them, is still perceptible. Ceres had long wandered over the earth, before she was received at Eleusis, and erected there her sanc- * Heeren's Politics of Ancient Greecj, ch. iii., p. 65. Bancroft, Am- ed., 1824. t Delalield's Antiquities of America, pp. 69-71, et notaj. X Sir William Jones, vol. i., p. 92. 28 MYSTICISM, tuary. (Isocrat. Pajieg. op., p. 46, ed. Steph., and many other places in Meursii Eleusin., cap. 1.) Her secret service in the Thesmophoria, according to the account of Herodotus (iv. 172), was first introduced by Danaus, who brought it from Egypt to the Pelopon- nesus.* One writer says that mysteries were, among the Greeks, and afterward also among the Eomans, secret religious assemblies, which no uninitiated per- son was permitted to approach. They originated at a very early period. They were designed to inter- pret those mythological fables and religious rites, the true meaning of which it was thought expedient to conceal from the people. They were perhaps neces- sary in those times, in which the superstitions, the errors, and the prejudices of the people, could not be openly exposed without danger to the public peace. Upon this ground they were tolerated and protected by the state. Their first and fundamental law was a profound secrecy. In all mysteries there were dra- matic exhibitions, relating to the exploits of the dei- ties in whose honor they were celebrated. f We may thus trace all ancient pagan religion to a common origin, with similarity of human means to accomplish a general result, variant in name, or in practice, as to the deity, or form of its worship, but resting on a m^ity as to its commencement and its object. * Hoeren's Politics of Ancient Greece : Am. ed., 1824, p. 64. Also Bryant's Ancient IVTythology, ii., 390. f Encyclopseclia Americana, vol. ix. (1835), p. US. AND ITS RESULTS. 29 We can hardly penetrate the veil wliich hides from us the pagan worship of that early human stock the race of Ham, which — without the divine light grant- ed only to the Israelites — was the origin of false wor- ship. We can only arrive at conclusions, but these are the result of strong presumptions arising from un- disputed historical facts. What are they ? One of the principal chiefs of the earliest race, whence came the magi, &c., was Nimrod, afterward deified by the name of Bel to the Chaldeans, Baal to the Hebrews, BvjXoj to the Greeks, and Belus to the Eo- mans ; and when, in later days, statues received adora- tion (which at first was only accorded to the being of whom the statue was a type), he became worshipped under a multiplication of statues, they were in the Hebrew language called "Baalim," or the plural of Baal. Nimrod was the son of Gush, grandson of Ham, and great-grandson of Noah. " And Gush be- gat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, ' Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.' And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Gal- neh, in the land of Shinar. And out of that land he went forth to Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rchoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Galah: the same is a great city."* While, then, * Gen. X. 8-12. This is adopting the marginal for the text reading of the passage, and the reason for it is this : The above is a clear his- 30 MYSTICISJI, the children of Shem and Japheth pursued the patriar- chal course, and preserved the ancient traditions subse- quently handed down, the descendants of Ham, suffering under the patriarchal malediction of Noah, built cities composed of families, and a great kingdom composed of cities and nations. This kingdom was the origin of pagan worship. They lost the patriarchal tradi- tions, and were the first to establish on this earth the concentration of power in a political system. That power once attained, the daring energy of the king became in the hand of the priesthood a subject of dei- fication for two reasons. 1. The king was mortal, and must die. 2. The power must be preserved. When afterward, under Peleg, this race, at their torical account of those who journeyed to the plains of Shinar, which were only the descendants of Cush the father of Nimrod; though Asshur is said to have gone and builded the city of Nineveh, with the others mentioned in the text — which Asshur was one of the sons of Shem, who perhaps was blended by marriage, or other connections, with his relations the sons of Ham, unless it can be shown that there was one of that name in Ham's descendants as well as Shem's son. It was something particular (if correct) that Moses should bring in Asshur into his account of Ham's issue, because he was very strict in giving such relations of Japheth and Shem in their own places. Would Noah, who was so much disgusted at his son Ham as to curse him, permit the children of his other sons, whom he blessed, to have any communication with his children 1 Bishop Cumberland, in the last century, took, some pains to unravel this, and concluded that the marginal translation in our bibles is the right one — that in the text being, " Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh," &c. ; that in the margin, "And he [Nimrod] went out of that land into Assyria" — for Asshur generally in scripture signifies the Assyr- ian, excepting only in the genealogies : and in support of this he brings forward many authentic testimonies. ( See Parsons's Eemaius of Japheth, p. 15: London, 17G7.) AND ITS RESULTS. 81 building of Ba-Bel — their temple of Bel — became dis- persed, and left to us only their ruin of that temple, now called Birs Nimroud, the magi, or priests, pre- served the power he attained to themselves, by means of secrecy in their mysteries, and which were dis- persed subsequently through the earth in different lan- guages and forms, varying with the poetry and cli- mate of the country or countries thereafter occupied, and adapted from time to time- to the existing exigen- cies of the times. Thence sprang the origin of my- thologies, or, in other words, fabulous histories of the fructifying energies of Nature, whether developed in the germination of the vegetable kingdom, or in an occasional poetical version of some heroic act of one in power. This nation, the old Assyrian, became dispersed at the destruction of their great temple. But their po- litical 130 wer everywhere was mysteriously preserved. When the magi became organized in Media, they spread in every direction. Erom earliest days we find their worship amid the nations conquered by Joshua. We see them in the traces of the O/ iToifjisvsff, or shepherd-kings of Egypt, and in the sorcerers of the days of Moses. We find them reformed by Zoro- aster in Persia. They are conspicuous among the Greeks, who derived their mysteries from Egypt; and in the worship of Isis at Rome, never indigenous there. And even in later days (those of Darius, Bel- shazzar, and Cyrus), they seem to be thoroughly re- 32 MYSTICISM, established in their original birthplace. And, strange as it may appear, we find their power over kings, gen- ei-als, nations, and people, in the hands of the priest- hood, by means of their mysteries, from all early his- tory, until affected by the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Eegarding, then, the off-shoot from patriarchal tra- dition to be the origin of pagan worship ; referring also to the first formation of cities, and of one im- mense kingdom, by the descendants of Ham (accursed by his prophetic ancestor), by whom an empire was first established ; to Nimrod's deification ; to the pres- ervation in the priesthood of future political power ; to the fact that after his death they would and might thereby perpetuate the same ; that wherever thereafter dispersed, they did so by their revelations by myste- ries, in which they controlled not only the masses of the people, but those who governed them, in whatsoever nation then known — we arrive at the conclusion that the mysteries were the elements of religious and con- sequently of political power. The important Greek mysteries, of the details whereof wo know most, were — 1. The Eleusinian. 2. The Saniotkracian, which originated in Crete and Phrygia, and were celebrated in the former country in honor of Jupiter. Prom these countries they were introduced among the Thracians or Pelasgians in the island of Samothracc, and extended thence into Greece. They were sometimes celebrated in honor AND ITS RESULTS. 83 of Jupiter, sometimes of Bacchus, and sometimes of Ceres. 3. The Dionysia, which were brought from Thrace to Thebes, and were very similar to the for- mer. They were celebrated every second year. The transition of men from barbarism to civilization was likewise represented in them. The women were clothed in skins of beasts. With a spear (thyrsus), bound with ivy, in their hands, they ascended Mount Cithseron ; when, after the religious ceremonies, wild dances were performed, which ended with the disper- sion of the priestesses and the initiated in tlie neigh- boring woods. They had also symbols, chiefly rela- ting to Bacchus, who was the hero of these mysteries. These celebrations were forbidden in Thebes, even in the time of Epaminondas, and afterward in all Greece, as prejudicial to the public peace and morals. 4. The Orphic, chiefly deserving mention as the probable foundation of the Eleusinian. 5. The mysteries of Isis, not in vogue in Greece, but very popular in Rome.* The offspring of Egyptian priestcraft, they were instituted with a view to aggrandize that order of men, to extend their influence, and' enlarge their revenues. To accomplish these selfish projects, they applied every engine toward besotting the multitude with superstition and enthusiasm. They taught them to believe that they were the distinguished favorites of Heaven ; that celestial doctrines had been revealed to them, too holy to be communicated to the profane * Encyclopieclia Amei-icana, title " Mysteries," vol. ix., p. 118. 2* 34 MYSTICISM, rabble, and too sublime to be comprehended by vulgar capacities. Princes and legislators, who found their advantage in overawing and humbling the multitude, readily adopted a plan so artfully fabricated to an- swer these purposes. The views of those in power were congenial with those of the priests, and both united in the same spirit to thus control the respect, admiration, and dependence, of the million. They made their disciples believe that in the next world the souls of the uninitiated should roll in mire and dirt, and with difficulty reach their destined man- sion. Hence, Plato introduces Socrates as observing that " the sages who introduced the Teletse had posi- tively affirmed that whatever soul should arrive in the infernal mansions unhouselled and unarmealed should lie there immersed in mire and filth." — " And as to a future state," says Aristides, " the initiated shall not roll in mire and grope in darkness, a fate which awaits the unholy and uninitiated." When the Athe- nians advised Diogenes to be initiated, " It will be pretty enough," replied he, " to see Agesilaus and Epaminondas wallowing in the mire, while the most contemptible rascals who have been initiated are strol- ling in the islands of bliss !" When Antisthenes was to be initiated, and the priests were boasting of the wonderful benefit to ensue, " Why, forsooth, 'tis won- der your reverence don't hang yourself, in order to come at it sooner," was his remark. When, however, such benefits were expected to be derived from the AND ITS RESULTS. 35 mysteries, it is no wonder the world crowded to the Elousinian standard. Initiation was, in reality, a consecration to Ceres and Proserpine. Its result was, honor and reverence from the masses. They believed all virtue to be inspired by these goddesses. Pericles says : " I am convinced that the deities of Eleusis inspired me with this sentiment, and that this stratagem was suggested by the principle of the mys- tic rites." So also Aristophanes makes the chorus of the initiated, in his Ranse, to sing : — "Let us to flowery mead repair, With deathless roses blooming, Whose balmy sweets impregn the air. Both hills and dales perfuming. Since fate benign one choir has joined, We '11 trip in mystic measure ; In sweetest harmony combined. We '11 quaff full draughts of pleasure. For us alone the power of day A milder light dispenses, And sheds benign a mellow ray To cheer our r-ivished senses. Por we beheld the mystic show, And braved Eleusis' dangers ; We do and know the deeds we owe To neighbors, friends, and strangers." It is believed that the higher orders of magi went further, and pretended to hold intercourse with, and cause to appear, the very siSuXov of the dead. In the days of Moses it was practised. " There shall not be found among you .... a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer."* * Deut. xviii. 10. iib MYSTICISM, Diodorus Siculus mentions an oracle near Lake 'Aver- rnis, where the dead were raised, as having been in existence before the age of Hercules.* Plutarch, in his life of Cimon, relates that Pausanias, in his dis- tress, applied to the Psychagogi, or dead-evokers, at Heraclea, to call up the spirit of Cleonice (whose injured apparition haunted him incessantly), in order that he might entreat her forgiveness. She appeared accordingly, and informed him that, on his return to Sparta, he would be delivered from all his sorrows — meaning, by death. This was five hundred years be- fore Christ. The story resembles that of the appari- tion of Samuel before Saul : " To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me."f The appearance of Sam- uel was regarded as a real transaction by the writer of Bcclesiasticus, for he says : " By his faithfulness he was found a true prophet, and by his word he was known to be faithful in vision ; for after his death he showed the king his end, and lift up his voice from the earth in prophecy. "J The rabbins say that the woman was the mother of Abner ; she is said to have had the spirit of Ob, which Dean Milman has re- marked is singularly similar in sound to the name of the Obeah women in Africa and the West Indies. Herodotus also mentions Thesprotia, in Epirus, as the place where Periander evoked the spirit of his wife Melissa, whom he had murdered. || * Livy, ir., c. 22. 1 1 Sam. xxviii. 19. J Eccles. xlvi. || Lib. v., u. 92. AND ITS RESULTS. 37 It was a very general opinion, in later days, that demons had power over the souls of the dead, until Christ descended into Hades and delivered them from the thrall of the " Prince of Darkness." The dead were sometimes raised by those who did not possess a familiar spirit. These consulters repaired to the grave at night, and there lying down, repeated cer- tain words in a low, muttering tone, and the spirit thus summoned appeared. " And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."* Euripides also refers to necromancy. f ADMETUS. o^a ys (/.^ Ti (pMjxa, vs|r^|uv rod ^? HERCULES, ou -xlyup^ayuyov rovS' sifoijjff'u fe'vov. Adm. See ! is not this some spectre from the dead ? Her. No dead-invoker for thy guest hast thou. Seneca describes the spirits of the dead as being evoked by the Psychagogus in a cave rendered gloomy and as dark as night by the cypress, laurel, and other like trees. ;j: Claudian refers to the same superstition. || And Lucan,§ where Erictho recalls a spirit to animate * Isaiah xxix. 4 ; also viii. 19. t Alcestis, 1127. X CEdipns, Act iii., 530. || Sec Eufinius, i., 155. § Phars., vi., 670. This writer proposes hereafter to publish an o8 MYSTICISM. the body it had left, by horrid ceremonies. So Tibul- lus:* — "Hsec cantu finditque solum, manesque sepalchris, Elicit, et tepido devocat ossa toro." The celebrated Heeren, in his " Politics of Ancient Greece" (ch. iii., p. 67, Am. ed.), remarks, in refer- ence to the mysteries of Eleusis, that they exhibited the superiority of civilized over savage life, and gave instructions respecting a future life and its nature. For what was this more than an interpretation of the sacred traditions which were told of the goddess as the instructress in agriculture, of the forced descent of her daughter to the lower world, etc. ? And we need not be more astonished if, in some of their sa- cred rites, we perceive an excitement carried to a degree of enthusiastic madness which belonged pecu- liarly to the East, but which the Hellenes were very willing to receive. For we must not neglect to bear in mind that they shared the spirit of the East ; and did they not live on the very boundary-line between the East and the West ? As those institutions were propagated farther to the west, they lost their origi- nal character. We know what the Bacchanalian rites became at Rome ; and had they been introduced north of the Alps, what form would they have there as- sumed ? But to those countries, it was possible to essay on the intercouvso between the living and the dead, as connected with natural magic, even to tlie present day. * Lib. i., El. ii., 45. AND ITS EESULTS. 39 transplant tlie vine, not the service of the god to whom the vine was sacred. The orgies of Bacchus suited the cold soil and inclement forests of the North as little as the character of its inhabitants. Without going further into detail (the minutise of which are thus opened to every scholar), we must presume that the mythology of the children of Ham, the origin of pagan worship, fostered by variant mys- teries to obtain and maintain temporal power, spread itself through the then known world. So far as we know,the secret doctrines which were taught in the mys- teries may have finally degenerated into mere forms and an unmeaning ritual. And yet the mysteries exer- cised a great influence on the spirit of the nation, not of the initiated only, but also on the great mass of the people ; and perhaps they influenced the latter still more than the former. They preserved the rev- erence for sacred things, and this gave them their, po- litical importance. They produced that effect better than any modern secret societies have been able to do. The mysteries had their secrets, but not every- thing connected with them was secret. They had, like those of Eleusis, their public festivals, proces- sions, and pilgrimages, in which none but the initiated took a part, but of which no one was prohibited from being a spectator. While the multitude was permit- ted to gaze at them, it learned to believe that there was something sublimer than anything witli which it was acquainted, revealed only to the initiated ; and 40 MYSTICISM, ■while the worth of that sublimer knowledge did not consist in secrecy alone, it did not lose any of its value by being concealed. Thus the popular religion and the secret doctrines, although always distin- guished from each other, united in serving to curb the people. The condition and the influence of re- ligion on a nation were always closely connected with the situation of those persons who were particu- larly appointed for the service of the gods, the priests. The scholar will readily call to mind a Calchas, a Chryses, and others. The leaders and commanders themselves, in those days, offered their sacrifices (see the description which Nestor makes to Pallas, Od. iii., 430, &c.), performed the prayers, and observed the signs which indicated the result of an underta- king. In a word, kings and leaders were at the same time priests.* How far may this have been a reason why Pharaoh did not call on a priest for help, but rely on the 'sup- posed superior knowledge of the Magi ? a higher grade of secret instruction, perhaps, than he had received. * Heeren. Politics Anc. Greece ; Am. Ed., p. 68. See also page following. AND ITS RESULTS. 41 CHAPTER III. The Origin of tlie Cabbalistse ; the Chaldeans, and their Antagonism to Patriarchal Tradition. — The Hand-writing on Belshazzar's "Wall. — The Secret Writings of the Cabbalistse. — How Daniel read the Same. — Ezra. — The Origin of the Masoretic Text. — Zoroaster. — His Reformation and Reconstruction of the Religion of the Magi. — Pythagoras, and his "League." — The Thags. — The Druids. So far as the children of Shem and Japheth are con- cerned, it is believed true religion was preserved, except where tradition became adulterated with extraneous matter. And for the preservation of that religion, Almighty God, in his mercy, established of that lin- eage a certain race, with rules, partly signifying his truth, partly merely political, which should thereafter shine as a moral light to the world, no matter how dim the light might be, through the imperfection of human nature under peculiar circumstances of temptor tion or otherwise. Here, at once, was an antagonism with the pagan religion, which was of the children of Ham, under his father's patriarchal curse. When Moses, the servant with the watchword, " 1 AM THAT I AM," presented himself to the Shemitic and 42 MYSTICISM, Japhetic races, lie was everywhere received and acknowledged by them as their leader, in opposition to both the temporal and theological power of tho Magi and of Pharaoh. Here came the clashing between pagan and tradi- tional theology preserved by the patriarchs. And Almighty God, to show the truth of his laws, sanc- tioned their promulgation by signs and miracles, which the Magi could not equal nor counteract. Pass by the Israelitish history until- the loss and destruction of the first temple, when we find this religious race, although imbued with the principles of truth, fallen from their high estate, and led captive into a strange land, subject to the very people that insisted on the opposite of their own religion. They were then under the control of a monarch who was • governed by the laws of the Medes and Persians, that is, of the Magi ; and who, in turn, relied upon their emperor, who trusted only to his magicians, sorcerers, and Chaldeans. They were in Babylon itself To confirm what has been said, and to elucidate what is to follow, we will pause a moment to learn what is meant by " the Chaldeans." The accounts that have been transmitted to us by the Chaldeans themselves of the antiquity of their learning, are blended with fable, and involved in con- siderable uncertainty. At the time when Callisthenes was requested by Aristotle to gain information con- cerning the origin of science in Chaldea, he was AND ITS RESULTS. 43 informed that the ancestors of the Chaldeans had continued their astronomical observations through a period of 470,000 years ; but upon examining the ground of this report, he found that the Chaldean observation reached no further backward than 1,903 years, or that, of course (adding this number to 381, B. C, the year in which Babylon was taken by Alex- ander), they had commenced in the year 2,234, B. C. Besides, Ptolemy mentions no Chaldean observations prior to the era of Nabonassar, which commenced 747 years B. 0. Aristotle, however, on the credit of the most ancient records, speaks of the Chaldean Magi as prior to the Egyptian priests, who, it is well known, cultivated learning before the time of Moses. It appears probable that the philosophers of Chal- dea were the priests of the Babylonian nation, who instructed the people in the principles of religion, interpreted its laws, and conducted its ceremonies. Their character was similar to that of the Persian Magi, and they are often confounded by the Greek historians. Like the priests in most other nations, they employed religion in subserviency to the ruling powers, and made use of imposture to serve the pur- poses of civil policy. Accordingly Diodorus Siculus relates (lib. ii., p. 31, compared with Daniel ii. 1, &c., Eccles. xliv. 3) that they pretended to predict future events by divination, to explain prodigies, interpret dreams, and avert evils or confer benefits by means of augury and incantations. For many ages they 44 , MYSTICISM, retained a principal jDlace among diviners. In tlio reign of Marcus Antoninus, wlien tlie emperor and his army, wlio were porisliing witli tliirst, were sud- denly relieved by a shower, the prodigy was ascribed to the power and skill of the Chaldean soothsayers. Thus accredited for their miraculous powers, they maintained their consequence in the courts of princes. (See Oic. de Divin. 1. i., Strabo 1. xv. — Sext. Emp. adv. Matt. 1. v. § 2, Aul. Gell. 1. xiv. s. 1, Strabo 1. c.) The mysteries of Chaldean philosophy were revealed only to a select few, and studiously con- cealed from the multitude ; and thus a veil of sanctity was cast over their doctrine, so that it might more easily he employed in the support of civil and reli- gious tyranny. The sum of the Chaldean cosmogony, as it is given in Syncellus (Chronic, p. 28), divested of allegory is, that in the beginning all things con- sisted of darkness and water ; that Belus, or a divine power, dividing this humid mass formed the world, and that the humid mind is an emanation from the divine natuiie. (Perizon. in Orig. Bab. Voss. de Sclent. Math. c. xxx. § 5. Hettinger Hist. Or. p. 365. Herbelot Bib. Or. Voc. Zor. Anc. Un. Hist, vol. iii. Prid. Conn. b. iv. Shuckford, b. viii. Burnet Archasol. Phil. 1. i. c. 4. Brucker's Hist. Phil., by Enfield, vol. i. b. i, c. 3.)* Now, we read that, " in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed * Kees' Cyclop, vol. vii. voc. " Chaldean Philosophy." AND ITS RESULTS. 45 dreams, ■wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him. Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sor- cerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king."* But when by the king required not only to interpret but to reveal the very phantasm itself, they declared it beyond the power of their own or human art. Daniel, however, of the captive race, revealed it by supernal influence. Then did the monarch admit as to Deity, that G-od (J ah, Ps. Ixviii. v. 4) was God of gods (^Baalim, the representations of Baal).f His second dream was again only understood by the inspired representative of the Hebrews. But when, finally, appeared the stupendous handwriting on the wall, and when Belshazzar and his court were over- whelmed with amazement, so that " the king's coun- tenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another, the king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers." J They came ; but all in vain. Daniel interpreted the hand-writing at sight, and his reading proved true. Some theories prevail about this, which, whether correct or not, are entitled to be understood and considered. They have, at least, direct reference to our subject of secret instruction and writing. * Daniel ii. t The trae God, Jah, was God over the false deities, Baalim. } Daniel v. 6, 7. 46 MYSTICISM, The wonderful miracles of God at the exodus did not prevent that nation from repeated lapse into paganism, and acts of open disobedience to the Theo- cratic law. Still less were they debarred thereby the mere oriental customs of imparting moral in- struction in secret associations, or the pursuit of science in hidden confraternities. But the train of thought and instruction in the Hebrew societies was singularly pure, and directly at variance with the mysteries of paganism. While the whole result of the teaching of the heathen mysteries was to repre- sent, symbolically, the fructifying energies of nature (which they supposed to be the sum of both science and theology), that of the Israelites was the incul- cation alone of virtue, the acquisition of science, and the preservation of the name of Deity under peculiar forms and ceremonies, the recognition of which by members of the initiated, opened from one to the other every heart in perfect confidence, con- stantly reminding them of their duty to him as well as to each other. The whole system of oriental in- struction, save that proclaimed in Le\'iticus and Deuteronomy, was secret. Even the name of Deity could not be pronounced except at low breath, or in a whisper, under prescribed forms. Has the reader ever asked himself the meaning of the passage in the Lord's Prayer, '■^Hallowed be thy name .^" The Hebrews had a visible manifestation of God. That was not the only object of reverence. It was limited AND ITS RESULTS. 47 not to any manifestation, but to the name of Deity. And that teaching has received the express recogni- tion of our Saviour, by his making it a part of the selections from the Jewish euchologies which form his prayers. We profess to worship Deity in spirit and in truth. Do we hallow his name ? Mere absti- nence from profanation is a negative duty. How must it be hallowed ? That is a positive duty. Christianity, rejecting the Hebrew form, regards this as a mere Hebraism, substituting the name for the being himself. The Israelites do not : and one secret society still existing, whose origin we shall trace in this essay, still preserves the Hebraistic sanctification of the original holy name as their form of recognition of each other, under solemnities which hallow it. We know that Moses* " was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." At his day pagan hieratic and hiero- glyphic symbols only were written on papyrus, or carved and engraved on stone. Take, then, the fact, that the Hebrew patriarchs and their tribes of his time were suffering under the persecution of hard task-masters in Egypt. How could their patriarchs teach to their classes the lessons of virtue and morality ? We can readily suppose at the conclusion of a toilsome day, when all is dark, and tired nature would otherwise be at rest, he that had patriarchal authority, at dead of night, when * Acts vii. 23. 48 BITSTICISM, their pagan rulers could not hear, and while due guard was kept, whether on high hills, or in low vales, would summon together those who were worthy TO RECEIVE instruction in moral science, virtue, and their patriarchal traditions, and there — taking as emblems their instruments of daily toil — preserve the lessons which thus alone could be imparted. This we believe to be the origin of the Cabbalists, or Kabbalistce, a secret society among the Hebrews, whose origin is lost in antiquity, yet whose knowledge may, under God's blessing, have been an instrument in accomplishing his great results. Their very name is derived from the Hebrew word ^^p (Cabbala, "to receive"). This society of Gabbalistse, had vari- ous methods of secret writing. Their first was the scriptura coelestis ; the second, that of angels, or king- ly or dominant power ; the third, that of the passage of the flood (^Scriptura transitus fluvii). Breithaupt* says : " It is to be recollected, that the more ancient of the KabbalistEe, studied out even a secret method of writing, consisting of four lines intersecting each other at right angles, forming a square in the middle, * Disq. Hist, de variis modis ooovlte scribendi, Helmstadt. clolooxxxvii. pp. 23-26. "Iliad memorandum, quod Kabbalista- rum antiquiores otiam ex figura quatuor linearura, quae iuuicem sese intersecant, & in medio quadratum efBciunt, occultum scriptuvEe genus cxcogitarint sequentem iQ modum. In singulis scctionibus tres col- locaut litteras a dextra ad sinistram. Quando igitur primam extribus intelligunt, figuram sectionis istuis, in qua reperitur, cum vno puncto scribunt ; si alteram, eandam figuram cum duobus punctis ; si tertiam, rursus eandem cum tribus punctis." AND ITS RESULTS. 49 after the following method. The figure of the four lines is thus : — tcbti -iDi QO"l "^2 >3 Vn P'- m n tn qsn Tyr In each section three letters they place from right to left. When, therefore, they intend the first of the three, they write the figure of that section in which it is found, with one point (li- ). If another (or the next), the same figure with two points (i^:) ; if the third, the same again with three points (p-'}, and so on. But the Cabbalistae had also a simpler writing : " The sublime philosophy of those who are called the Kabbala, embraces within itself different kinds to which the following appertain. In their most famous magic pamphlet Rasiel, which the Kabbalistse hold in great respect, in the first place three secret alpha- bets, are read, which, in many things, are wanting in the common form and syntax of usual Hebrew. The first is called Scriptura ccelestis (the writing of heaven) ; the next, fiiob^bji or D'^obta) that is, of angels- or kings (an^elorum sive reguni) ; and the third the writing of the crossing of the flood.* There * " Illorum philoso])hia sublimis, quam Kabbalam Tocant, diuersas sub se complectitur species, quarum qntedam hue pertinent. In 3 50 MYSTICISM, are extant also, drawings of these letters preserved by Hern. Corn. Agrippa, in his work " De Occult. Phil. lib. iii. c. 30," the copying of which would be merely matter of curiosity to no end. But Breithaupt goes much further, and refers to a book, " In CEnigmatibus Judseorum Religiosissimis. Helmst. 1708, editio, p. 49," wherein he says,* that Herm. Vender Hardt, the most celebrated philologist of our age, remembers two singular alphabets used by the Jews in preparing their amulets. The first is famossissimo illo libello magico Easiel, quem Kabbalistse in magna yeneratione Iiabent, tria imprimis secreta alphabeta leguntnr, qua a communi Ebraicarum litterarum forma & ductu in multis abeunt. Primum Tocatur scriptura coelestis ; alterum scriptura angeloram sive regum ; & tertium scriptura transitus fluvii. — Disq. Hist. &c., ibidem. * Herm. Von der Hardt, celebenimus setatis nostrse philologus, duorum etiam singulariam alphabetonim meminit, quibus Jndsei in amuletis suis conficiendis utantur. Primum est, si proxima semper pro prcecedente substituitur littera, nimirum 5 pro 55, 3 pro 3 & sic porro. Hoctegere dicuntur confessionem suam de vno yero Deo, quam quotidie mane & circa vesperam recitant, & de qua sibi per- suadent, quod effica cissimum contra idololatriam proesidium sit, quo quasi prtemuniantur, ne a veritate ad falsam religionem desciscant. Alterum alphabctum occultum in eo consistit, quod ordine elemen- torum in uerso vltimam litteram n cum prima jj, & banc cum ilia Ticissim permutent, & sic etiam reliquas : quam inversionem laSfis dicere moris est. Ex hoc maiusculis litteris in nobilioribus amuletis conspicuum symbolum yesti conficiunt, quod nihil iterum aliud, quam nomen Dei niiT^- Hieronymus, nou incelebris primse eccle- sise pater contendit (hereinafter quoted) prophetam Jeremiam hoc scribendi genere vsum fuisse, &, no regem Babylonise adversus Ebrseos irritaret, pro rege Jai dixisse "iffliB. Quin etiam sunt inter Judseos, qui verba ilia apud Danielem "iiDIC iilpn S3?3 K3Bi 1"* super csenam regis Belsazaris e parieto per miraculum ad stuporem omnium prodi- bant, eodem modo scripta fuisse, atque iccirco banc artificiosam lit- terarum transpositionem a Deo ipso primam originem suam trahera oxistimant. Scd incerta hoec & transeunda. AND ITS RESULTS. 51 when the next succeeding is substituted for the pre- ceding letter in every instance, as to wit : 3 for j^, 5 for 3, and so forth. They are said to have con- cealed in this manner their recognition of the one true God, which they recite daily, early and toward evening, and as to which they persuade themselves that it is the most efficacious safeguard against idola- try, fortified wherewith they can not lapse from true to false religion. The other secret alphabet consisted in this, that in inversed order they change the last letter j-| with the first ;j^, and this and another in turn, and so on through the rest, which inversion it is the custom to call tDDtli^- From this they pro- duce, by such letters, in their more elaborate amulets, the noted symbol yS2>35 which is nothing else than the name of Grod, niH"'- S*- Jerome,* a celebrated father of the early church, contends that the prophet Jeremiah used this kind of writing, and not to irri- tate the king of Babylon against the Hebrews, for king, ^5i, said niDlB. But some, also, among the Jews, declare that these words in Daniel, -'^■'D-iisi bpn iii'212 {!%i)3 which, at the supper of the King Belzhazzar mirac- ulously appeared upon the wall, to the astonishment of all, were written in this mode ; and hence think this artificial transposition of letters originated with God. But these things are to be passed by as un- * Tom. iv. Oper. comment, in Jerem. cxxw., 26, p. 286, edit. Coloniens. de an. 1616. 52 MYSTICISM, certain. If this last be true, the handwriting on the wall would have appeared thus : But according to the first system referred to, the following would have been the appearance. □ ru=i □-n_i [ZLU ri_uz] (See Conf. Jan. Hercvles de Svnde in Steganologia, lib. v., num. 4., p. 148. seqq.) If the society of Kabbalistse originated among the Israelites as early as the time of Moses, their secret writings must having been only known to him and few besides, with their successors. Solomon, to whom Almighty God declared " wisdom and knowl- edge is granted unto thee,"^ must have learned them; or, if it originated with him, Daniel and Ezra, who lived in a succeeding age; after the great temple had been destroyed, during the captivity, and at the rebuilding of the second temple, both inspired ser- vants of God, equally knew them; and when the inscriptions on the wall, or on the ark, or in the sacred rolls, were lost and unknown to the people, they were easily deciphered by means of the knowl- edge of the Kabbalistic character, no matter what its form. Thus when Daniel saw the handwriting on * See Conf. Lud. Henr. Hillerus, in prsefat. mysterii artis steno- graphicse nouissimi VlmsB an. 1682 editi. t Breithaupt, Disq. Hist., p. 25, notis. t 2 Chron. i. 12. AND ITS RESULTS. 53 the wall he read it at once, possessed as he may have been of the knowledge how to read that cipher, while it can readily be seen why the Magi of Chaldea, and of Media and Persia, were at fault. It was a secret writing of the Hebrews, known only to the select few. Ezra, m the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, " was chief-priest. This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given.'" This was, then, no new matter to him. The book of the law had been lost during the captivity. Yet, at the rebuilding of the temple, Ezra was a ready scribe in that lost writing. As such he went up from Babylon to Jerusalem. The wisdom of God granted to Solomon, must have provided against the foreseen loss of the sacred rolls, and determined a way for their discovery, and the manner of reading them. The lost rolls were brought forth by Ezra, and were read, notwithstanding the ignorance of their ancient language. In what way, so consistent with reason, as by his understanding the secret writing known only to the learned of that race — the hidden scripture and instruction of a mys- terious society, whose only teaching was pure, in accordance with the divine commands of the theoc- racy, and with the oriental manner of instruction in matters of science and morality ? Did this not fur- nish him a key to the original text ? The words of * Ezra vii. 1-6. 54 MYSTICISM, the one must have been recognised by their original use in application to the reading of the other ; and though the language may have changed, the old cipher must have interpreted all. We learn that, " after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant," were entered.* The book (or rolls) of the law was commanded to be put within the ark.f The end of laying it there was, that it, as the original, might be reserved there as the authentic copy, by which all others were to be corrected and set right. $ Prideaux contends that, the ark deposited in the second temple was only a representative of a former ark on the great day of expiation, and to be a repository of the Holy Scrip- tures, that is, of the original copy of that collection which was made of them after the captivity, by Ezra and the men of the great synagogue ; for when this copy was perfected, it was then laid up in it. And in imitation hereof, the Jews, in all their synagogues, have a like ark or coffer, || of the same size or form, in which they keep the Scriptures belonging to the * Heb. ix. 4 : and hereto agree Abarbanel on 1 Kings viii. 9, and ■R. Levi Ben Gersom. — Prideaux Conn. i. 297. t Deut. xxxi. 26 : Or, as otliers interpret it, " by the side of the ark." Miitzad. I Sam. vi. 8. 2 Kings xxii. 8. Prideaux i. 297. t Prideaux i. 297. || Vide Buxtorfii Synagogam. c. 14. AST) ITS RESULTS., 55 Synagogue ; and whence they take it out with great solemnity, whenever they use it, and return it with the like when they have done with it. What became of the old ark, on the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, is a dispute among the Rabbins. The Jews — and herein they are supported by the traditions of the most ancient secret society on earth — contend that it was hid and preserved, by Jeremiah, say some, out of the second book of Maccabees.* But most of them will have it, that King Josiah, being foretold by Huldah, the prophetess, that the temple would speedily, after his death, be destroyed, caused the ark to be put in a vault under ground, which Solomon, foreseeing this destruction, had caused of purpose to be built for the preserving of it. And, for the proof hereof, they produce the text where Josiah commands the Levitesf to put the holy ark in the house, " which Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, did build."^ Whether within or without the ark, or within a secret vault or not, Ezra, the scribe, brought forth the lost book or rolls of the law, and established the rules for its future perpetuity, whether by writing, or in oral explanation. And here, again, we note the use of secrecy in matters of power. Prom him is derived the present method of reading Hebrew, by what is usually known as the * 2 Maccabees ii. t 2 Chron. xxxt. 3. X Prideaux i. 303-'4. It were well to call to the reader's attention here, the remarkable subterranean discoveries made this year (1856), and still going on in Jerusalem, under the Austrian authorities there. 56 MYSTICISM, vowel points in the Masoretic text. The Masorites were a set of men whose profession it was to write out copies of the Hebrew Scriptures. And the pres- ent vowel points were used by them, as derived from the secret writings of the Cabbalists. The Jews believe that, when God gave to Moses the law in Mount Sinai, he taught him first the true readings of it ; and, secondly, the true interpretation of it ; and that both these were handed down, from generation to generation, by oral tradition only, till at length the readings were written by the accents and vowels, in like manner as the interpretations were, by the Mishna and Gemara. The former they call Masorah, which signifieth " tradition." The other is called Cabbala, which signifieth " reception ;" but both of them denote the same thing, that is, a knowledge down from generation to generation, in the doing of which, there being tradition on the one hand, and reception on the other, that which relates to the readings of the Hebrew Scriptures hath its name from the former, and that which relates to the inter- pretations of them from the latter. As those who studied and taught the Cabbala were called the Cab- balists, so those who studied and taught the Masorah were called the Masorites. As the whole business of the Cabbalists and Masorites was the study of the true reading of the Hebrew Scriptures, to preserve and teach the proper text, they certainly are justly held the most likely to have invented, or at least AKD ITS RESULTS. 57 received and preserved these vowel points, because the whole use of these points is to serve to this pur- pose.* About this time, in the reign of Darius, otherwise Artaxerxes, who sent Ezra and Nehemiah to Jeru- salem to restore the state of the Jews, first appeared in Persia the famous prophet of the Magi, whom the Persians call Zerdusht, or Zaratush, and the Greeks Zoroastres : born of mean and obscure parentage, with all the craft and enterprising boldness of Mo- hammed, but much more knowledge. He was excel- lently skilled in all the learning of the Bast that was in his time ; whereas the other could neither read nor write. He was thoroughly versed in the Jewish re- ligion, and in all the sacred writings of the Old Testament that were then extant, which makes it most likely that he was, in his origin, a Jew. It is generally said of him, that he had been a servant to one of the prophets of Israel, and that it was by this means that he came to be so well skilled in the Holy Scriptures, and all other Jewish knowledge. From the collation of authorities made by Dr. Prideaux,t it would seem that it was Daniel under whom he served ; besides whom there was not any other master in those times, under whom he could acquire all that knowledge, both in things sacred and profane, which he was so well furnished with. He founded no new * Prideaux i. 285. t Vol. i., Connex. pp. 383, 384. 3* 58 religion, but only reformed the old one. He found that the eminent of the Magi usurped the sovereignty after the death of Cambyses. But they were de- stroyed, and by the slaughter -which was then made of all the chief men among them, it sunk so low, that it became almost extinct, and Sabianism everywhere prevailed against it, Darius and most of his followers on that occasion going over to it. But the affection which the people had for the religion of their fore- fathers, and which they had all been brought up in, not being easily to be rooted out, Zoroastres saw that the revival of this was the best game of imposture that he could then play ; and having so good an old stock to engraft upon, he with greater ease made his new scions grow. He first made his appearance in Media, now called Aderbijan, in the city of Xix, say some ; in that of Ecbatana, now Tauris, say others. The chief reformation which he made in the Magian religion was in the first principles of it : for whereas before they had held the being of two first causes, the first light, or the good God, who was the author of all good ; and the other darkness, or the evil god, who was the author of all evil ; and that of the mix- ture of these two, as they were in a continual struggle with each other, all things were made ; he introduced a principle superior to them both, one Supreme God, who created both light and darkness, and out of these two, according to the alone pleasure of his own will, made all things else that are, according to what is AND ITS RESULTS. 59 said :* " I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me : I girded thee, though thou hast not known me : that they may know from the _ rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." These words, directed to Cyrus, king of Persia, must be understood as spoken in reference to the Persian sect of the Magians, who then held light and darkness, or good and evil, to be the supreme beings, without acknowledging the great God who is superior to both. To avoid making God the author of evil, Zoroaster's doctrine was, that God originally and directly created only light or good, and that darkness, or evil, followed it by consequence, as the shadow doth the person ; that light or good had only a real production from God, and the other afterward resulted from it as the defect thereof. In sum, his doctrine as to this particular was, that there was one Supreme Being, independent and self-existent from all eternity. That under him were two angels, one the angel of light, who is the author and .director of all good ; and the other the angel of darkness, who is the author and direc- tor of all evil ; and that these two, out of the mixture of light and darkness, made all things that are ; that they are in a perpetual struggle with each other ; and that when the angel of light prevails, then the most * Isaiah xlv. 5-7. 60 MYSTICISM, is good, and when the angel of darkness prevails, then the most is evil ; that this struggle shall continue to the end of the world ; that theA there shall be a general resurrection, and a day of judgment, wherein just retribution shall be rendered to all according to their works, &c. And all this the remainder of that sect, which is now in Persia and India do, without any variation, after so many ages still hold, even to this day. Another reformation which he made in the Magian religion was, that he caused fire temples to be built wherever he came : this being to prevent their sacred fires, on the tops of hills, from being put out by storms, and that the public of&ces of their religion might be the better performed before the people. Zoroaster pretended he was takeii up into heaven, there to be instructed in those doctrines which he was to deliver unto men. Mohammed pre- tended to have seen God. Zoroaster was too well informed for such imposture. He only claimed to have heard him speaking to him out of the midst of a great and most bright flame of fire ; and he, there- fore, taught his followers that fire was the truest shechinah of the divine presence. His followers thereafter worshipped the sun as the most perfect fire of God. But this was an original usage of the Magi (referred to in Ezekiel viii. 16), where it is related, that the prophet being carried in a vision to Jerusa- lem, had there shown him " about five-and-twenty men standing between the porch and the altar, with AND ITS RESULTS. Gl tlieir backs toward the temple of theLord, and their faces toward the east ; and they worshipped the sun." The meaning of which is, that they had turned their backs upon the true worship of God, and had gone over to that of the Magians.* The Kebla, or point of the heavens toward which they directed their worship being toward the rising sun, that of the Jews in Jerusalem to the Holy of Holies on the west end of the temple ; of those elsewhere toward Jerusalem ; of the Mohammedans toward Mecca, and the Sabians toward the meridian. Come whence it may, what is the meaning of the use of fire in any divine worship ? 1. Burnt-offerings of old required it. 2. It descended on the altars of Elijah, and of Solo- mon, from God himself. 3. The Magi, from the time of Zoroaster, have deemed it the symbol of purity. 4. The pagan mysteries in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, all preserved the " sacred fire." Most re- ligions seem to have adopted its use. Why ? 5. The Catholic church has ever preserved its use in burning tapers, lamps, and smoking incense. In his reformation of the customs and rites of the Magi, Zoroaster, as has been hereinbefore said, pre- served their three grades of Apprentices, Masters, and Perfect Masters.! The first were the inferior clergy, who served in all the common ofBces of their * Prideaux, Con. i. 389. t P-oge — . n::i MYSTICISM, divine worship ; next above them were tlie superin- tendents, who in their several districts governed the inferior clergy, as bishops do with us ; and above all was the perfect-master, the archimagus, who was the head of the whole religion. Accordingly their places of worship were of three sorts. The lowest sort were parochial oratories served by the inferior clergy, where they read the daily offices out of their liturgy, and on solemn occasions read part of their sacred writings to the people. In these churches there were no fire altars ; but the small scintilla of sacred fire preserved in them, was kept only in a lamp. Next above these were their fire temples, in which fire was continually burning on a sacred altar. The highest church of all was " the fire-temple,^^ the resi- dence of the archimagus, first established by Zoroas- ter at Balch, but removed in the seventh century to Kerman, a province in Persia on the southern ocean. To gain the better reputation to his pretensions, Zoroaster first retired to a cave, and there lived a long time as a recluse, pretending to be abstracted from all earthly considerations, and to be given wholly to prayer and divine meditations ; and the more to amuse the people who there resorted to him, he dressed up his cave with several mystical figures, representing Mithra, and other mysteries of their religion. In this cave he wrote his book, called Zendavesta, or Zend, meaning " fire-kindler," or " tinder-box." This book contains much borrowed AND ITS RESULTS. 63 from the Old Testament. He even called it the book of Abraham, and his religion the religion of Abra- ham; for he pretended that the reformation which he introduced was no more than to bring back the religion of the Persians to that original purity in which Abraham practised it, by purging it of all those defects, abuses, and innovations, which the corruptions of after-times had introduced into it.* Is it not singular that all the nations of the earth still trace their teaching in pure religion to Abraham, whether under the name of Brahma, or otherwise ? These ancient Magi were great mathematicians, philosophers, and divines of the ages in which they lived, and had no other knowledge but what by their own study, and the instructions of the ancients of their sect they had improved themselves in. All of the Magi were not thus learned, only those of the higher order. The priesthood, like the Jewish, was communicated only from father to son, except to the royal family ,f whom they were bound to instruct, the better to iit them for government. "Whether it were that these Magians thought it would bring the greater credit to them, or the kings, that it would add a greater sacredness to their persons, or from both those causes, the royal family of Persia, so long as the Magi prevailed among them, was always reckoiied * Prideaux i. 338-'9. t Plato in Alcibiade i. Stobases, p. 496. Clem. Alex, in Pada- gogoi. p. 81. 64 of the sacerdotal tribe.* The kings of Persia were looked on to be of that sacerdotal order, and were always initiated into the sacred rites of the Magians, before they took on them the crown, or were inaugu- rated into the kingdom.f Pythagoras next assumed, in the west, the most prominent place for learning. He was the scholar of Zoroaster at Babylon, and learned of him most of that knowledge which afterward rendered him so famous. So saith Apuleius (Floridorum secundo), and so say Jamblichus (in vita Pythag. c. 4), Por- phyry (Ibid. p. 185. edit. Cant.), and Clemens Alex- andrinus (Stromata i. p. 223) for the Zabratus or Zaratus of Porphyry, aad the Na-Zaratus of Clemens, were none other than this Zoroaster ; and they relate the matter thus : that when Canibyses conquered Egypt he found Pythagoras there on his travels, for the improvement of himself in the learning of that country ; that, having taken him prisoner, he sent him, with other captives, to Babylon, where Zoroaster (or Zabratus, as Porphyry calls him) then lived ; and that he there became his disciple, and learned many things of him in the eastern learning. There may be error as to date, but that Pythagoras was at Babylon, and learned there a great part of that knowledge which he was afterward so famous for, is agreed by * Prideaux Con. i. 395. t Cicero de Divinatione, 1. i. Philo Judseus de spec. leg. Plu- tarch in Aitaxerxe. AND ITS RESULTS, 65 all. His stay there, Jamblichus tells us, was twelve years ; and that, in his converse with the Magians, he learned from them arithmetic, music, the Icnowl- edge of diA'ine things, and the sacred mysteries per- taining thereto. But the most important doctrine which he brought home thence, was that of the im- mortality of the soul ; for it was generally agreed among the ancients (Porphysius in vita Pythagorse p. 188, edit., Cant. Jamblichus in vita Pyth. c. 30), that he was the first of all the Greeks that taught it. Prideaux says he takes this for certain, that Pytha- goras had this from Zoroaster, for it was his doctrine, and he is the earliest heathen on record who taught it.* But Pythagoras seems to have combined the notions he then received with those of the Egyptian Magi ; for he taught immortality to consist in con- stant transmigration from one body to another. The Egyptian Magi claimed to be judges of the dead,f and taught this doctrine. Zoroaster taught a resurrection from the dead, and an immortal state as we under- stand it. And it is probable Pythagoras adopted this notion after he fled from Samos to Egypt to escape from the government of Polycrates. Be this as it may, he was a master-spirit in a secret society with its lodges spread through Magna Graecia, originating in one he established at Crotona in Lower Italy. Like that of the Cabbalists, this society had no connection whatever with the dominant religion. * Prideaux i. 404-'5. t See page — , antca. 66 MYSTICISM, The Kabbalistffi taught virtue and scieace, and thus were, perhaps, an auxiliary, but certainly no opponent to the sacred teachings of the holy law. The Pytha- gorean league taught philosophy alone ; full instruction was given in the liberal arts and sciences in accord- ance with the learning of that age. But, after it was thought destroyed (and it was suppressed by Cylon and his faction, about the year 500 B. C), it still exercised a great influence over all Greece, in such manner as that Heeren speaks of it as a phenomenon which is in many respects without a parallel. The grand object of the moral reform of Pythagoras was SELF-GOVEENMENT. By his dignity, moral purity, dress, and eloquence, he excited not only attention but enthusiasm. In that day an aristocracy prevailed in Magna Graecia, based chiefly on the corrupting tendencies of wealth and luxury. Against this class a popular movement commenced, by the influence whereof Sybaris was destroyed, and thereupon five hundred nobles fled for safety to Crotona, and prayed for protection from that city, which they obtained principally by the advice of Pythagoras. (Diod. Sic. xii. p. TT.Wechel.) Aristocratic evils he abro- gated. A friend of the people, he recognised their equal rights: and it would seem that, while he adopted grades in knowledge and moral worth, he considered mankind on " a level" so far as all politi- cal power was concerned. To accomplish this end, he prescribed in his own society, and their affiliated AND ITS RESULTS. 67 lodges, or meetings, a certain manner of life, dis- tinguished by a most cleanly but not luxurious cloth- ing, a regular diet, a methodical division of time, part of which was to be appropriated to one's self, and part to the state. Heeren remarks, that when a secret society pursues political ends, it naturally fol- lows that an opposing party increases in the same degree in which the preponderating influence of such a society becomes more felt. In this case, the oppo- sition existed already in the popular party. It there- fore only needed a daring leader, like Cylon, to scat- ter the society by violence ; the assembly was sur- prised, and most of them cut down, while a few only, with their master, escaped. .They are said, so far as their political views were concerned, to have regarded anarchy as the greatest evil, because man can not exist without social order. They held that every- thing depended on the relation between the gov- erning and the governed ; that the former should be not only prudent but mild ; and that the latter should not only obey, but love their magistrates; that it was necessary to grow accustomed, even in boyhood, to regard order and harmony as beautiful and useful, disorder and confusion as hateful and injurious. They were not blindly attached to a sin- gle form of government, but insisted that there should be no unlawful tyranny. Where a regal government existed, king should be subject to the laws, and act only as the chief magistrates. They regarded a 68 MYSTICISM, mixed constitution as the best, and where the admin- istration rested principally in the hands of the upper class, they reserved a share of it for the people. Tlie writings of the Pythagoreans commanded high prices, but gained political importance only so far as they contributed to the education of distinguished men, of whom Epaminondas was one.*' Another scion of these methods of secret instruc- tion, wherein, however, religion was the engine of political power, came from the ancient Assyrian stock with Phoenician emigration to Great Britain. The Deuids controlled the learning of that country in religion as in science ; and by their mysteries exerted an overwhelming influence upon the rulers and the masses. Dr. Parsonsf says, what were the filids,'and bards, and the Druids, but professors of the sciences among the Gomerians, and Magogians or Scythians, and it is plain that, from Phenius downward, there were always, in every established kingdom among the Scythians, philosophers and wise men, who, at certain times, visited the Greek sages, after they had found their schools ? It is no easy matter to point out the first rise and ages of the Druids. They taught the same opinions of the renovated state of the earth, and of souls, with the Magi. According to Csesar, in his time these Druids instructed their youth in the * Heeren, Politics Anc. Greece, p. 292. t Remains of Japlietli, 136. AND ITS RESULTS. 69 nature and motion of the stars, in the theory of the earth, its magnitude,- and of the world, and in the power of the immortal gods. On the continent of Europe, he says, the Druids grew into such power and ascendency over the minds of the people, that even the kings themselves paid an implicit slavish "obedi- ence to their dictates ; insomuch, that their armies were brave in battle, or abject enough to decline even the most advantageous prospects of success, according to the arbitrary prognostics of this set of religious tyrants ; and their decisions became at last peremp- tory in civil, as well as in the affairs of religion. One of the kings of Ireland, the learned Carmac o' Quin, great in law and philosophy, who was not afraid to inveigh openly against the corruptions and superstition of the Druids, and maintained, in his disputations against them, that the original theology consisted in the worship of one omnipotent, eternal Being, that created all things ; that this was the true religion of their ancestors ; and that the numerous gods of the Druids were only absurdity and supersti- tion — proved fatal to him. For, as this society saw an impending danger of their dissolution, they formed a deep conspiracy against him, and he was murdered. The Druids on the continent never committed their mysteries to writing, but taught their pupils memoriter. The Irish and Scotch Druids wrote theirs, but in secret character. These were well understood by the learned men who were in great numbers, and had 70 MYSTICISM, not only genius but an ardent inclination to make researches into science. St. Patrick, then, with the general consent and applause of the learned of that day, committed to the flames almost two hundred tracts of their pagan mysteries.* And with his day ended the last of druidical superstition. The Druids preserved the mistletoe evergreen as an emblem of nature's fructifying energy, and of immortality. The Thugs, Assassins, Phanzigars, or by what other name they may be known, were no society for the development of philosophy or religion ; and, although they began about this time, are unworthy of farther mention. Their mysteries, if any, were only those of the highway robber, murderer, or other violater of God's law. Their only secrecy was the conceal- ment of their crime. * A bad way to extirpate error. Education, reason, and piety will meet error openly. AND ITS KESULTS. 71 CHAPTER IV. The Discipline of the Secret in the Origin of the Christian Church. — The Inquisition. — The Mystics. — The rise of Monachism. — The Mendicant Orders. — The Order of Knighthood. — The Jesuits, their Organization, and History. — The Kosicrucians, &c. But next appeared upon the stage of human life, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ ; " The sun of Righteousness, rising with healing on his wings :" that LIGHT of this world, which was to draw all men unto him, at the mention of whose name " every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth."* His lessons to man were all oral. The church he established received none but traditional instruction. The gospels of his life were written more than half a century after the crucifixion. The apostles, com- missioned to go forth and preach the Gospel, held their meetings in upper chambers, and in secrecy, and part of their manner of teaching, if not all, was founded upon the still-prevailing systems of the Kab- balistse and philosophers. There were grades ob- served in the orders of ministry. The diaconate, the 2 Phil. ii. 9, 10. 72 presbyter, priest or elder, and the s-rrigxoxcs or bishop. So there were three grades of the laity — catechu- mens, (not yet baptized,) baptized persons, and " the faithful." The policy of the apostles (who, when they were taught to be harmless, were to be wise) adapted itself to the then existing state of affairs. It was not only for fear of the Jews, as at first, that they adopted the method of instruction in secret, and which is to this day recognised by the catholic church as the then disciplma arcani, or " discipline of the secret ;" but they kept it up even during the times of persecution, down to the time of St. Augustin. When our Saviour was insulted by the scribes and Pharisees, saying, " why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders ?" &c. He said to them, " why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition ?"* Still more did he rebuke them, when they asked him, " why walk not thy disciples according to the traditions of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands ?" In his answer, he replied, " laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups, &c., &c. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition."! St. Paul afterward, well knowing the then systems of philosophy, and their then traditional instruction, wrote to them at Philippi,^ " Beware lest any man spoil you through * Matthew xv. 2, 3. t Mai-k vii. 5-9. i Coloss. ii. 8. AND ITS RESULTS 73 philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments (or elements) of this world, and not after Christ." Then St. Paul, guarding the early- Christians so carefully, writes to the faithful in Thes- saly, " Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which ye have received of us"* &c. When St. Paul preached on the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread," it was in an upper chamber where they were gathered together.! At an earlier date, the first day of the week after the crucifixion, in the evening, " when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst," &C.J When Pliny was proconsul in Judea, such charges were made against the Christians on account of their secrecy, as caused severe persecution, not for matters of religion, but for supposed canni- balism. He writes to Trajan, that he took all pains to inform himself as to the character of the Christian sect. To do this he questioned such as had for many years been separated from the Christian community, but though apostates rarely speak well of the society to which they formerly belonged, he could find out nothing. He then applied torture to two female-slaves, deaconesses, to extort from them the truth. After all, he could learn only that the Chris- * 2 Thess. iii. 6, 7. t Acts xx. 7, 8. % John xx. 19, 4 74 MYSTICISM, tians were in the habit' of meeting together on a certain day ; that they then united in a hymn of praise to their God, Christ ; and that they bound one another — not to commit crimes, but to refrain from theft, from adultery, to be faithful in performing their promises, to withhold from none the property in- trusted to their keeping; and then separated and afterward assembled at a simple and innocent meal.* Evidently, the Christian mysteries were preserved secret from the Romans as from the Jews, or such crime could never have been imputed to them. Al- luding to the secret traditional instruction prevalent in Judea and adopted by the early church, St. Augus- tin writes, " You have heard the great mystery. Ask a man, 'Are you a Christian ?' He answers you, ' I am not.' ' Perhaps you are a pagan, or a Jew ?' But if he has answered ' I am not ;' then put this question to him, ' Are you a catechumen, or one of the faith ?' If he shall answer you, ' I am a catechumen ;' he is anointed but not yet baptized . But, whence anointed ? ask him. And he replies. Ask of him in whom he believes. Prom the fact that he is a catechumen, he says, in Christ." This is the third lecture of St. Augustin on the ninth chapter of St. John's gospel, where our Saviour is portrayed as healing the blind man, by mixing earth with spittle and anointing his eyes therewith. And St. Augustin adds^, " Why have I spoken of * Ncander, Gen. Hist, of Christ. Rel. &c., p. 98. AND ITS RESULTS. 75 spittle and of mud ? Because tlie word is made flesh ; this the catechumens hear ; but it is not suffi- cient for them as to what they were anointed ; let them hasten to the font, if they desire light."* But still further to mark the distinction between these grades of Christian secret instruction, St. Au- gustin,in the eleventh tract on the Gospel of St. John, treating of the conversation between Nicodemus and our Saviour, as to regeneration, says, " If, therefore, Nicodemus was of the multitude who believed in his name, now in that Nicodemus we comprehend why Jesus did not trust them. Jesus answered and said to him, ' Verily, verily 1 say unto you, unless any one shall have been born agaia, he can not see the king- dom of God.' Jesus placed faith, therefore, in those who were born again. Lo ! they believed in him, and Jesus did not trust in them. Such are all cate- chumens : they now believe in the name of Christ, but Jesus does not confide in them. Let your love comprehend and understand this. If we say to a catechumen, ' Do you believe in Christ ?' He answers, * Brev. Rom., p. 251. Lectio iij. infra Hebd. quartam Quadra- gesimse. " Audistis grande mysteriuiu. Interroga hominem : Chris- tianas es ? Eespondet tibi": non sum. Si paganus es, aut Judeeus t Si autem dixerit, non sum : adhuc quseris ab eo, Cateehiimenus, an fidelis 1 Si responderet tibi, Catechumenus : inunctus est, nondum lotus. Sed unde inunctus 1 Qu£ere, et respondct. Quaere ab illo, in quern credat ? Eo'ipso quo Catechumenus est, dicit, In Chris- tum. Ecce modo loquor et fidelibus et catechumenis. Quid dixi do sputo et luto ? Quia verbum caro factum est ; hoc catechumoni audiunt : sed non eis sufficit ad quod inuncti sunt : festinont ad lava- crum, si lumen inquii-unt. 7fi MYSTICIS.1I, ' I do,' and signs himself with Christ's cross : he bears it on his forehead, and blushes not at his Lord's cross. Lo ! he believes in his name. Let us ask him, ' Do you eat the flesh of the son of man, and drink his blood ?' He knows not what we say, because Jesus has not trusted him."* Now we are told in Holy Writ in reference to this matter. St. Paul, alluding to this secret traditional instruction in the several degrees of Christian learn- ing, says to those advanced to a . higher or more per- fect degree : " and I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as to babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat : for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.f Even their first lessons in the great mystery were imperfect. Other and further instruction was to complete it. So also St. Peter saith in his general letter, " Wherefore laying aside all malice a,nd all guile and hypocrisies and envies * Brev. Eoni. p. 652. Fosta Maji. Lectio viii. " Si ergo Nico- demus de illis multis erat qui crediderunt in nomine ejns, jam in isto Nicodcmo attendaraus, quai-e Jesns non se credebat eis. Respondit Jesus, ct dixit ei : Amen, Amen dico tibi, nisi quis renatus fuerit dcnuo, non potest videro regnum Dei. Ipsis ergo se credit Jesus, qui nati fuerint denuo. Ecce illi credideVant in enm, et Jesus non se credebat eis. Tales sunt, omnes Catcchumeui : ipsi jam credunt in nomine Christi, sed Jesus non se credit eis. Intondat et intelligat charitas vestra. Si dixerimus catechumeno: credis in Christum? Respondet, credo, et signat se cruce Christi :'portat in fronte, et non erubescit de cruce Domini sui. Ecce credit in nomine ejus. Inter- rogemus enm ; Manducas carncm filii hominis, et bibis sangulnem filii hominis ? Ncscit quid dicimns, quia Jesus non se credidit ei. t 1 Corinth, iii. 1, 2. AND ITS RESULTS. 77 and all evil speakings, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of tlie word that ye may grow thereby."* And again, St. Paul saith,f " For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God ; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness : for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use" (liabit, or perfection') " have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the principles" (the word of the beginning of Christ) " of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfec- tion," J &c. We need not here refer to the wonderful spread of Christianity. "We learn a plain and simple lesson taught by Jesus, as to the administration of his church. " These twelve Jesus sent forth, and com- manded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles," &c. " Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out deyils: freely have ye re- ceived, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your purses : nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet a staff; for the workman is worthy of his- meat." || When ques- tioned before Pilate, he declared, " My kingdom is not of this world. "§ Whether the successors of the *lPeterii. 2. t Hebrews t. 12-14. f Hebrews vi. 1. II Matt. X. 5, &c. § John xviii. 36. 78 MYSTICISM, apostles have or not, since that day, established a kingdom of this world, is not for us here to discuss. Whether those that claim such succession obey the precept quoted, or not, we do not interfere with. To insure unity in the church throughout the world, prudence would suggest that there should be some place, free from the control of worldly politics, whence its teachings should issue, and its counsels be heard. In its infancy the Christian church suffered bitterly from persecution. The faithful everywhere received a crown of martyrdom. When earthly terrors inter- posed, the blood of the martyrs proved the seed of the church. It is for us, however, to trace in history the secret teachings of those who have claimed its highest au- thority in any denomination, and if we do not reach their private counsels, their acts proclaim them. Has, or not, each Christian church been tempted by worldly power, wealth, and honor, like all other systems of religion ? Have there existed within their jurisdiction, con- fraternities, with secular power, directly or indirectly under their control, seeking by secret measures to manage the government of the nations of this earth ? That great Creator, whose word is truth which can not change, declared as law to govern all his crea^ tures, " Thou shalt not kill." What saith history of those who claim to have acted in his name ? Why, and ia what manner did they act ? AND ITS RESULTS . 79 Tlie south of Prance in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries became a scene of blood, the immediate cause of which was the erections of the " tribunals of faith," better kno^ra to us as a secret society- called "The Ikquisition." Innocent III., who as- cended the papal chair in 1198, conceived the project thereof, to extirpate the rebellious members of the church — the Albigenses — and to extend the papal power at the expense of the bishops : and his succes- sors carried out his plan. This tribunal, " the holy office" or " inquisition" (sanctum officium), was under the immediate direction of the papal chair : it was to seek out heretics and adherents of false doctrines, and to pronounce its dreadful sentence against their fortune, their honor, and their lives, without appeal. The process of this tribunal differed entirely from that of the civil courts. The informer was not only concealed, but rewarded by the inquisition. The accused was obliged to be his own accuser. Sus- pected persons were secretly seized and thrown into prison. No better instruments could be found for inquisitors than the mendicant orders of monks, par- ticularly the Franciscans and Dominicans, whom the pope employed to destroy the heretics, and inquire into the conduct of bishops. Pope Gregory IX., in 1233, completed the design of his predecessors, and, as they had succeeded in giving these inquisitorial monks, who were wholly dependent on the pope, an unlimited power, and in rendering the interference 80 of the temporal magistrates only nominal, the inquisi- tion was successively introduced into several parts of Italy, and into some provinces of France ; its power in the latter country being more limited than in the former. The tribunals of faith were admitted into Spain in the middle of the thirteenth century, but a firm opposition was made to them, particularly in Castile and Leon, and the bishops there maintained their exclusive jurisdiction in spiritual matters. For a time this power waned, when, afterward in the fifteenth century, it assumed an aspect truly alarming. Three religions then prevailed in Spain : Christians, Jews, and Mahommedans. The power of the nobles was a bar, at the same time, to the absolute power of Ferdinand and Isabella. But this engine of religious tyranny accomplished their ends, and became the most powerful instrument of their policy. Owing to the fanatical preaching of Fernando Nuiiez, who taught the persecution of the Jews to be a good work, popular tumults prevailed, in which this people was plundered, robbed, and murdered. Cardinal Mendoza, at Seville, in 1477, condemned and pun- ished many who persevered in opposition to the doc- trines of his faith. Mendoza recommended the establishment of the inquisition to Ferdinand and Isabella. Dependent entirely upon the court, what better engine could they use to render their power absolute, by confisca- tion of estates to fill their treasury, and to limit the AND ITS RESULTS. 81 power of the nobles and superior clergy? In the assembly of the estates, therefore, held at Toledo, 1480, in spite of all opposition, it was determined to establish a tribunal, under the name of the general inquisition (^general inquisicion supremo). This was opened in Seville, 1481. Thomas de Torquenada, prior of the Dominican convent at Segovia, father- confessor to Mendoza, had been appointed first grand inquisitor by the king and queen, in 1478. The peaceful teachings of the meek and lowly Jesus do not seem to have had much influence on this political Boanerges. He had two hundred familiars, and a guard of fifty horsemen, but he lived in continual fear of poison. The Dominican monastery at Seville soon became insufficient to contain the numerous prisoners, and the king removed the court to the castle in the suburb of Triana. At the first auto da fe (act of faith), seven apostate Christians were burnt, and the number of penitents was much greater. Spanish writers relate that above seventeen thousand were given up to the inquisition. More than two thousand were condemned to the flames the first year, and great numbers fled to neighboring countries. The then pope, Sixtus IV., opposed the establishment of this court, as being the conversion of an ecclesias- tical into a secular tribunal : but he was compelled to submit to circumstances, and actually promulgated a bull subjecting Aragon, Valencia, and Sicily, the hereditary dominions of Ferdinand, to the inquisitor- 4* 82 MYSTICISM, general of Castile. The introduction of the ne-w tribunal was attended with risings and oppositions in many places, excited by the cruelty of the inquisitors, and encouraged, perhaps, by the jealousy of the bishops. Saragossa and other places refused admis- sion to the inquisitors, many of whom lost their lives ; but the people were obliged to yield in the contest ; and the kings not only became the absolute judges in matters of faith, but the honor, property, and life of every subject were in their hands. The political im- portance of this institution may be estimated by the following statement. In every community, the grand inquisitor must fix a period, from thii'ty to forty days, within which time heretics, and those who have lapsed from the faith, shall deliver themselves up to the inquisition. Penitent heretics and apostates, al- though pardoned, could hold no public office, nor become lessees, lawyers, physicians, apothecaries, or grocers ; nor wear gold, silver, or precious stones ; nor ride ; nor carry arms ; during their whole life, under a penalty of being declared guilty of a relapse into heresy : and they were obliged to give up a part of their property for the support of the war against the Moors. Those who did not surrender tjiemselves within the time fixed were deprived of their property irrevocably. The absent, also, and those who had been long dead, could be condemned, provided there was sufficient evidence against them. The bones of those who were condemned after death were dug up, AND ITS RESULTS. 88 aiid the property which they had left escheated to the king. At first the jurisdiction of the inquisition was not accurately defined ; but it was regularly organized by the ordinance of 1484, establishing branches in the different provinces of Spain, under the direction of the inquisitor-general. The inquisitor-general pre- sided , with aid of six or seven counsellors nominated by the king ; and his of&cers were a fiscal (or quasi prosecuting attorney), two secretaries, a receiver, two relators, a secuestrador (or escheator), and of&cials. In an ordinance of 1732, it was made the duty of all believers, to inform the inquisition, if they knew any one, living or dead, present or absent, who had wan- dered from the faith, who did observe, or had ob- served the laws of Moses, or even spoken favorably of them : if they knew any one who followed, or had followed the doctrines of Luther ; any one who had concluded an alliance with the devil, either expressly or vii-tually ; any one who possessed any heretical book, or the Koran, or the Bible in the Spanish tongue ; or, in fine, if they knew any one who had harbored, received, or favored heretics. If the ac- cused did not appear at the third summons he was excommunicated. From the moment that the pris- oner was in the power of the court he was cut off from the world. Thea followed tortures, solitary confinement, and death in flames, with every attend- ant of abject humiliation, while his name, with that 84 MYSTICISM, of his children and grand-children, was officially declared infamous. Napoleon crushed this monstrous iniquity December 4, 1808. According to the esti- mate of Llorente, the number of yictims of the Spanish inquisition, from 1481 to 1808, amounted to 341,021 persons. In Portugal the inquisition was established in 1557. Whence they also carried a branch of it to Gcra, in the East Indies ; in like manner as the Spaniards established one in America.* From the earlier days, however, of the Christian religion we find a select few known as the mystics, steadily pursuing a peaceful course in the investiga- tion of truth. Of them it is said, that they exercised a powerful influence both upon life and literature: and, although the inculcation of meekness and self- humiliation paralyzed active exertion, and a life devoted to emotions and sentiments occasionally produced fanaticism, yet this influence, especially in the middle ages was highly beneficial. John Tauler, of Strasbourg, Henry Suss, of Constance, and Thomas a Kempis, were active mystics, and eminent among their fraternity which was called " the brethren of the common life." Theirs was a religion of feeling, poetry, and imagination, in con- trast with philosophical rules and forms of reasoning, as taught by the school-men. They excused their fanaticism, by appealing to the words of St. Paul : * Llorente, Hist. Span. Inq. London. 1827. AND ITS RESULTS. 85 " The spirit prays in us by sighs and groans that are unutterable." Now, if the spirit, say they, prays in us, we must resign ourselves to its motions, and be swayed and guided by its impulse, by remaining in mere inaction. Hence, passive contemplation they considered the highest state of perfection. The num- ber of the mystics increased in the fourth century under the influence of the Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out as Dionysius, the Areopagite, a disciple of St. Paul, and probably lived about this period ; and by pretending to higher degrees of perfection than other Christians, and practising greater austeri- ties, their 'cause gained ground, especially in the eastern provinces in the fifth century. A copy of the pretended works of Dionysius, was sent by Bal- bus to Louis the Meek, in the year 824, which kindled the flame of mysticism in the western provinces, and filled the Latins with the most enthusiastic admiration of this new religion. In the twelfth century these mystics took the lead in their method of expounding Scripture ; and by searching for mysteries and hidden meanings in the plainest expressions, forced the word of God into a conformity Avith their visionary doc- trines, their enthusiastic feelings, and the system of discipline which they had drawn from the excursion of their irregular fancies. In the thirteenth century they were the most formidable antagonists of the schoolmen, and toward the close of the fourteenth many of them resided and propagated their tenets in 86 MYSTICISM, almost every port of Europe. In the fifteenth cen- tury they had many persons of distinguished merit in their number ; and in the sixteenth, previously to the Reformation, it is said that the only true sparks of real piety were to be found among them.* Let us, then, examine the rise of confraternities attached to, and of, the Christian church, yet not necessarily more than its other laity entitled to au- thority which they afterward usurped. Monachism took its rise in the East, where a soli- tary and contemplative life, devoted to the considera- tion of divine subjects, had always been considered more meritorious than active exertion. This calling was gradually adopted by so many, that at the end of the third century, the Egyptian Antonius, who had cast away his vast possessions, and chosen the desert for his residence, collected together the hith- erto dispersed anchorites (monachi) into fenced places (monasteria, ceenobia, claustra, cloisters), that they might live together in fellowship ; and his disciple, Pachomius, soon gave the brotherhood a rule. Mon- achism soon extended to the west. In the sixth century, Benedict, of Nursia, established the first monastery on Mount Casius, in Lower Italy, and became, by this means, the founder of the widely- spread order of Benedictines, which rapidly extended itself among all nations, and built many convents. These monasteries, erected, for the most part, in Enc. Brit. xv. 674. AND ITS RESULTS. 87 beautiful and remote situations, and the inhabitants of which -were obliged to take the three vows of chastity (celibacy), personal poverty, and obedience, proved in those days of lawlessness and barbarism, a blessing to mankind. They converted heaths and forests into flourishing farms. They afforded a place of refuge (asylum) to the persecuted and oppressed. They ennobled the rude minds of men by the preach- ing of the Gospel. They planted the seeds of moral- ity and civilization in the bosoms of the young by their schools for education. And they preserved the remains of ancient literature and philosophy from utter destruction. Many of the Benedictine monas- teries were the nurseries of education, the arts, and the sciences, as St. Gallon, Fulda, Eeichenau, and Corvey (in Westphalia), and many others. When the Benedictine order became relaxed, the monastery in Clugny, in Burgundy, separated itself from them in the tenth century, and introduced a more rigid discipline. In the twelfth century the monks of Clugny numbered upward of two thousand cloisters. But this order, also, soon proved insufficient to satisfy the strong demands of the middle age, against the allurements of sin, and the seductions of the flesh ; so that, at the end of the eleventh century, the Cis- tercians, and, a few decades later, the Premonstrants sprang up: the former in Burgundy (Citeaux), the latter in a woody country near Laon (Premontre). The order of Carthusians, founded about the year 88 MYSTICISM, 1084, which commenced with a cloister of anchorites (Carthusia, Chartreuse) in a rugged yalley near Grenoble, was the most austere in its practice. A life of solitude and silence in a cell, a spare and meagre diet, a penitential garment of hair, flagella- tions, and the rigid practices of devotional exercises, were duties imposed upon every member of this fra- ternity. They deserve, at our hands, the full benefit of an honest and severe Christian effort to find out and nurture truth ; so long as government and political power did not control them. History next tells us of the so-called " mendicant orders." They origi- nated in the thirteenth century, and this establish- ment was productive of remarkable results. Francis, of Assisi (a. d. 1226), the son of a rich merchant, renounced all his possessions, clothed himself in rags, and wandered through the world, begging, and preach- ing repentance. His fiery zeal procured him disci- ples, who. like himself, renounced their worldly pos- sessions, fasted, prayed, tore their backs with scourges, and supplied their slender wants from voluntary alms and donations. The order of Franciscans then spread rapidly through all countries. About the same time arose the order of Dominicans, or preaching monks, founded by an illustrious and learned Spaniard, Dominicus. Their chief olajects were the mainte- nance of the predominant faith in its considered purity, and the extinction of heretical opinions. lu AND ITS RESULTS. 89 carrying these out, they became endowed with the greatest worldly and temporal privileges, received the powerful patronage of the pope, gradually ob- tained the chairs in the universities, and took the lead in the murder of their fellow creatures through the inquisition. What a temptation to brawling mendicants, too lazy to earn a living, authorized to beg, and the supple tools of political leaders ; and all this by a mysterious society, under the guise and pretence of the Christian religion ! Laic tools for such clerical workmen ! While, from the mystics of that date, valuable works have been preserved, what has been left us from these mendicant orders ? Anything save the cry of blood from the earth ? Aught else than ser- vile obedience in accomplishing the mandates of those in power ? In the eleventh century, the crusades had given rise to a singular class of men, half-military, half- monk. They had their secret means of recognition, a peculiar garb, and a professed object. Religion was the motive cause, while science and philosophy seem to have been secondary with them. They were knights, of three orders, viz. : the Knights of St. John, or Hospitallers ; the Templars ; and the Teu- tonic Knights. The Knights of St. John are known equally by the name of the Knights of Malta, because, in 1530, Charles Y. granted them the islands of Malta, Gozzo, and Comino, on condition of -perpetual war 90 MYSTICISM, against the infidels and pirates, and the restoration of these islands to Naples, if the order should succeed in recovering Rhodes. The chief of this order had immense possessions in most parts of Europe. Their chief was called Grand Master of the Holy Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and Guardian of the Army of Jesus Christ. He was chosen by vote, and lived at La Villette in Malta. Foreign powers addressed him as Altezza eminentissima. His income equalled a million of guilders annually. This order still exists. Originally the affairs of the order were exer- cised by " THE CHAPTER," wMch Consisted of eight balliages (ballivi conventuaW) , of the different lan- guages of which the knights of the order consisted, that is, Provence, Auvergne, Prance, Italy, Aragon, Germany, Castile, and England. The lands of these ballivi conventual! of languages were divided into three classes, priories, balliages, and commanderies. Of the priories the German had the preference, and was called the Grand Priory. This confraternity were free-masons. And their organization was framed accordingly. Such was their kindness and benevolence to a wandering and unprotected pilgrim, that when afterward accosted on his journey with the customary inquiry, " Whence came you ?" one and multitudes would answer, " Prom a lodge of the Holy St. John of Jerusalem," having experienced their hospitality and kindness in their pilgrimage. Their duty was to nurse, accommodate, AND ITS RESULTS. 91 and protect pilgrims to the Holy Land : and every- where on their travels, in whatever country, these -lodges (or hutten) were found for their comfort. In the beginning of the twelfth century a secret order was formed, '• for the defence of the Holy Sepulchre, and the protection of Christian Pilgrims." They were first called « The poor of the Holy City," and afterward assumed the appellation of " Templars," because their house was near the Temple. The order was founded by Baldwin II., then king of Jerusalem, with the concurrence of the pope. Many of the noblest knights connected themselves therewith, and they became known, then, as the Knights Templars. But the order degenerated, became faithless to their vows, and used the wealth and power they had attained in such manner as to occasion their public condemnation. In the beginning of the fourteenth century a sect of soi-disant philosophers appeared, known as the Rosi- CRDCiANS. They bound themselves together by a solemn secret, which they all swore inviolably to pre- serve ; and obliged themselves, at their admission into the order, to a strict observance of certain estab- lished rules. They pretended chiefly to devote them- selves to medicine, but above all that, to be masters of important secrets, and among others, that of the philosopher's stone ; all which they affirmed to have received by tradition from the ancient Egyptians, 92 MYSTICISM, Chaldeans, the Magi, and the Gymnosophists. By their pretences that they could restore youth, they received the name of Immortelles. Their pretension to all knowledge, acquired for them the title of Ilhi- minati. For years they were lost sight of. Conse- quently, when in later years they once more appeared under their original organization, they have been recognised as " The invisible brothers.''^ Their name is not, as generally supposed, derived from rosa and crux: but it is from ros (dew), the then supposed solvent of gold, and crux (the cross). To see, per- haps, a badge of this order, mark the arms of Luther I a cross placed upon a rose. True, a mistake as to the definition, yet does it not indicate the reason of its use politically and otherwise ? Passing by, then, the middle ages, we commence a new era with the rise and progress of a religious secret order, without a parallel in the history of the world ; one which has risen in influence and power far above all the other orders of the church, prohibit- ing its members to accept office in the church, yet which, in the art of ruling, has excelled the govern- ments of the world hitherto, no less than any of its ecclesiastical rivals of any age or country. The Society of Jesus — known as the Jesuits — early raised itself to a degree of historical import- ance miparalleled in its kind. This order was fomided (1539) by Ignatius Loyola, who called it the Society of Jesus, in consequence of a vision, and bound the AND ITS EESDLTS. 93 members, in addition to the usual tows of poverty, chastity, and implicit obedience to their superiors, to a foui'th, viz: to go, unhesitatingly, and without recompense, ■whithersoever they should be sent, as missionaries for the conversion of infidels and here- tics, or for the service of the church in any other -way, and to devote all their powers and means to the accomplishment of the work. The intention of Igna- tius Loyola was originally directed rather to mystic and ascetic contemplations ; but the order, from the nature of its fourth vow, soon took a shape adapted to the wants of the church. The origin of this society seems to have been a vision to the over- wrought mind of Loyola : may we call it a temporary inflammation of the brain ? He was a Spaniard of very warm imagination, and a man of great sensibility. He declared he saw Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a vision : that she gave him the power of chastity : that Jesus and Satan appeared to him in the form of military officers enlisting men for service ; whereupon he followed Christ. The society designated their object by Loyola's motto — Omnia ad majorem Dei gloriani. The intimate union of this society has been insured by severe trials, con- stant inspection, and unconditional obedience. Thor- oughly organized by past experience, it now quietly pursues a policy deep, powerful, and difficult to be met on account of its mysticism. After Loyola's death the society was farther developed by Lainez, 94 MYSTICISM, and after him, by Aquaviva, men of deep knowledge of mankind, and steadfast purpose, wlio became the real authors of the present society. The seat of the society was, in so far, in Rome, as the general of the order resided there, with the committee of the society, and the monitor, who, totally independent of him, controlled the general as if he were his con- science. The order was divided into provinces, each of which was superintended by a provincial. Under the care of these officers were the professed-houses, with each a prtepositus at its head, and the colleges, with each a rector. In the latter there were also novices. The mutual dependence of all parts of the system resemble the structure of a well-built fabric. The relations of subordination are so well ordered that the society is simplex duntaxat unum, without interrupting the free will of the individual, as is said, who only had to obey in permitted things. The popes Paul III. and Julius III., seeing what a support they would have in the Jesuits against what is usually called " the Reformation," which was rap- idly gaining ground, granted to them privileges such as no body of men, in chui'ch, or state, had ever before obtained. They were permitted not only to enjoy all the rights of the mendicant and secular orders, and to be exempt from all episcopal and civil jurisdiction and taxes, so that they acknowledged no authority but that of the pope and the superiors of their order, and were permitted to exercise every AND ITS RESITLTS. 95 priestly function, parocMal rights notwithstanding, among all classes of men, even during an interdict ; but, also (what is not even permitted to archbishops unconditionally), they could absolve from all sins and ecclesiastical penalties, change the objects of the vows of the laity, acquire churches and estates with- out further papal sanction, erect houses for the order, and might, according to circumstances, dispense them- selves from the canonical observance of hours of fasts and prohibition of meats, and even from the use of the breviary. Besides this, their general was invested with unlimited power over the members ; could send them on missions of every kind, even among excom- municated heretics ; could appoint them professors of theology at his discretion, wherever he chose, and confer academical dignities, which were to be reck- oned equal to those given by universities. These privileges, which secured to the Jesuits a spiritual power almost equal to that of the pope himself, to- gether with a greater impunity, in point of religious observance, than the laity possessed, were granted them to aid their missionary labors, so that they might accommodate themselves to any profession or mode of life, among heretics, and infidels, and be able, wherever they found admission, to organize Catholic churches without a further authority. A general dispersion, then, of the members throughout society with the most entire union and subordination, formed the basis of their constitution. 96 MYSTICISM, In the education of youth, there has been a verj^ unjust charge against them, that is, that they mutilated the classics. Would to God that every pure Chris- tian would follow such an example ; and that we might thereby present such an expurgated edition, as would create all the good they may contain, devoid of evil. Any who have read Virgil, Ovid, Terence, or other classic works, must acknowledge this neces- sity. Even Shakespeare's plays can not be read, as printed, in a modest company. There is not, either, any prudery in this. And, accordingly, a family expurgated edition has been published by Dr. Bowd- ler, demanding a far greater circulation than it may have as yet received. Praise, then, be awarded to all instructors of youth who will promote such ex- purgation from the classics as will blot out their im- morality ! The latitude in which this society has understood its rights and immunities has given occasion to fear an unlimited extension and exercise of them, dan- gerous to all existing authority, civil and ecclesias- tical, as the constitution of the order, and its erection into an independent monarchy in the bosom of other governments, have assumed a more fixed character. This society seems to have been divided into dif- ferent ranks or classes. The novices, chosen from the most talented and well-educated youths, and men without regard to birth or external circumstances ; and who were tried for two years, in separate noviti- AND ITS RESULTS. 97 ate houses, ia all imaginable exercises of self-denial and obedience, to determine whether they would be useful to the purposes of the order, were not ranked among the actual members, the lowest of whom are the secular coadjutors, who take no monastic vows, and may, therefore, be dismissed. They serve the order partly as subalterns, partly as confederates, and may be regarded as the people of the Jesuit state. Distinguished laymen, public officers, and other influential personages (e. g., Louis XIV., in his old age), were honored with admission into this class, to promote the interests of the order. Higher in rank, stand the scholars and spiritual coadjutors, who are instructed in the higher branches of learning, take upon themselves solemn monastic vows, and are bound to devote themselves particularly to the edu- cation of youth. These, as it were, the artists of the Jesuit community, are employed as professors in academies, as preachers in cities, and at courts ; as rectors, and professors in colleges, as tutors and spiritual guides in families which they wish to gain or to watch, and as assistants in the missions. Finally, the nobility, or highest class, is made up of the pro- fessed, among whom are admitted only the most- experienced members, whose address, energy, and fidelity to the order, have been eminently tried and proved. According to one statement, they make profession, that is, take the vows of their order, by binding themselves in addition to the common mo- 5 98 MYSTICISM, nastic vows by tlio fourth tow, to the undertakiug of missions, among whom they consider heathen and heretics, as governors in colonies in remote parts of the world, as father-confessors of princes, and as residents of the order in places where it has no col- lege. They are entirely exempt, on the other hand, from the care of the education of youth. None but the professed have a voice in the election of a general, who must himself be of their number, and who has the right of choosing from them the assistants, provin- cials, superiors, and rectors. The general holds his office for life, and has his residence in Rome, where he is attended by a monitor, and five assistants or coun- sellors, who also represent the five chief nations : the Italians, Germans, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. He is the centre of the government of the whole order, and receives monthly' reports from the pro- vincials, and one every quarter from the superiors of the professed-houses, from the rectors of the colleges, and from the masters of the novices. These reports detail all remarkable occurrences, political events, and the characters, capacities, and services of in- dividual members, and thereupon the general directs what is to be done, and how to make use of tried and approved members. All are bound to obey him im- plicity, and even contrary to their own convictions. There is no appeal from his orders. Loyola died July 31, 1656, leaving to the order a sketch of this constitution, and a mystical treatise AND ITS RESULTS. 99 called '' Exercitia Spiritualia," which work occupies the first four weeks of every novice. The rapid in- crease of the order, and the previous purity of Loyo- la's life, obtained canonization for him in 1662. Their first great missionary was St. Francis Xavier, whose labors (1541) in the Portuguese Bast Indies, where he died ten years afterward, have obtained for him the name of " the apostle of India, and the honor of canonization. We are told that, at Goa, Travancore, Cochin, Malacca, Ceylon, and Japan, some hundred thousand were by him converted to the Christian religion. If so, at present the light of it has become very dim. Stat nominis umbra. The inquisition at Groa, perhaps, may have shown the people the difference between theory and practice. Claudius Aquaviva, of the family of the dukes of Atri, general of the Jesuits from 1581 to 1615, is the author of their system of education. The want of deep, critical learning, with the mutilation of the classics (for which last they deserve praise, not blame), exposed their teachers, for a time, to the censure of philologists. Viewed with suspicion by the French, they only were admitted into that nation in 1562, under the name of " the Fathers of the Col- lege of Clermont," with a humiliating renunciation of their most important privileges, but they soon united in the factions of that country, and, notwith- standing a strong suspicion of their having had a share in the murder of Henry III., under the protec- 100 MYSTICISM, tion of the Guises, they contrived to establish them- selves, regain their privileges, and deprive the French Protestants of their rights. One of their pupils, John Chatel, attempted Henry's life (1594), and this caused their banishment until 1603, when, at the intercession of the pope, they were again restored by Henry IV. That they participated in the crime of Ravaillac could never be proved. They became the confidential advisers in Germany, of Ferdinand H. and HI. They discovered remarkable political talent in the thirty years' war ; the league of the Catholics could do nothing without them. Father Lamormain, a Jesuit, and confessor to the emperor, effected the downfall of Wallenstein, and by means of his agents, kept the jealous Bavarians in their alliance with Austria. Then burst upon them in France and the Netherlands, the hurricane of the Jansenist contro- versy, when Pascal's Provincial Letters scathed them, and his sentiments were even quoted (1679) by Innocent IX., against sixty-five of their offensive propositions. Complaints were made against some of them by the Iroquois, who had been converted by them, as would appear by the treaty of peace (1682). In 1759, by an edict, they were declared guilty of high-treason, and expelled from Portugal. Owing to difficulties at Martinique under their deputy. Father La Vallette, and the declaration of their general, Lorenzo Ricci, refusing to make any change in their constitution (^sint avt non sint), "let them be as they AND ITS RESULTS. 101 are, or not be," the king of France (1764) issued a decree for abolishing the order in all the French states, as being a mere political society, dangerous to religion, whose object was self-aggrandizement. In 1767 they were driven out of Spain, and soon after from Naples, Parma, and Malta. And the voice of public opinion at length compelled Pope Clement XIV. to publish his famous bull, Dominus ac Re- demptor noster, of July 21, 1773, by which the society of Jesus was totally abolished in all the states of Christendom. The society, however, did not become extinct. In 1780 they were thought to have possessed themselves of the secrets of the Rosicrucians, and to have taken a part in the schemes of the Illuminati. In 1787, an unsuccessful attempt was made to revive the order under the name of the Vicentines. Pius VII. restored the order, in 1814, upon the issuance of the bull, August 7, Solicifudo omnium. In 1815 they were restored in Spain. Russia, by an imperial ukase, March 25, 1820, banished them thence. Since then they have been driven from Mexico, again re- stored by Santa Anna, and now, though resident, they are politically powerless under the administra- tion of President Comonfort. They now seem to rely on the United States of America as their chief asylum, and upon the valley of the Mississippi river and its tributaries, as their basis of operations. Full and perfect freedom of thought and speech, of reli- gious toleration, and of mode of life, monastic or 102 MTSTICISM, otherwise, insures to them a safe home in this country. They possess a flourishing college at Georgetown, which may almost be considered as part of the city of Washington, the capital of the United States. Also one at Cincinnati, and one at St. Louis, well endowed, and possessed of great wealth. They exercise a powerful yet unseen influence over the minds of the members of the Catholic faith where they reside, each naturalized citizen of which has an equal voice in selecting all of&cers of state and general govern- ment. Aji eminent writer has remarked, that every- thing in history has its time, and the order of Jesuits can never rise to any great eminence in an age in which knowledge is so rapidly spreading. We think differently. A society so capable of adaptation to any circumstances, whether political, religious, or so- cial, plastic in nature to meet every desired impres- sion, talented, highly learned, wealthy, and among others, embracing in its order some men of such pure and admirable life as to be cited as examples of virtue and Christian character, with the protection the Amer- ican flag throws around all under its folds, is to be carefully observed. Human nature is always the same. The past history, then, of this society merits the study of every philanthropist and patriot. Once, in Paraguay, it became a blessing to mankind. Within due limits, it may be so anywhere. But its interference in any political affairs, under pretence of serving him, whose "kingdom is not of this AND ITS RESULTS. 103 world," is not to be tolerated, as it may prove a most dangerous engine in tbe struggle of the cause of popular self-government. An unconditional sur- render of one's own convictions to the will of an- other man is at variance with every principle of re- publicanism. 104 MYSTICISM. CHAPTER y. The Struggle between an alleged Jus Divinum jRegum, and Popular Sovereignty. — And the Efforts now attempted to destroy our Grand Experiment of Self-Govemment. — Practical Results. With the differences of religious bodies as to dog- mas of faith, this essay lias nothing to do ; but so far as churches connected with any religion, interfere with temporal governments, by mystic confraternities, that is a topic directly within our scope. Any union of church and state must, from these authorities, appear iu opposition to the unprejudiced action of the citizen in the government of his country. The great struggle for political power, the contest as to the source thereof — whether a fancied divine right (^jus divinmn) in any family, or in an individual by anointment of a priest ; or the free voice of a free people governing themselves by framing a constitution, limiting power in the hands of rulers, who are only* their agents — is now undergoing a severe test. Of this, however, more hereafter. The history of England, from the days of James II. — yes, even from Henry VIII., whose crimes form a strange contrast to his assumption of a title to being AND ITS RESULTS. 105 head of a cliurch — presents a singular contest for political power, by means of religious domination. From the days of William of Orange, the parties in Ireland (which seems to have formed the battle- ground of these contestants) have been not only well-defined, but they have been organized in the most perfect mysticism, into Orange men and Ribbon men. Let the days of Curran, Grattan, and of the persecuting government tell that story. The blood of an Emmett has crowned a noble effort with mar- tyrdom. His last speech will be read as long as school-books can perpetuate one of the finest efforts of oratory. Meantime, a secret society still existed which soft- ened down asperity, and extended the blessings of fraternity even among those arrayed against each other — not only there, but over the world. By its teachings and its obligations, universal charity was inculcated. Is there an intelligent Free-Mason who has perused our previous pages, but what has recog- nised the history of his own society from the origin of the Kabbalistse ? Spread everywhere, under what- ever name, emanating from a common origin, recog- nised by common principles and instruction, enforcing the study of the liberal arts and sciences, teaching philosophy throughout the world, and the hope of a future immortality, it has, as a mystic order, taken deep root in every nation, but more so in republics, not having fear of an interdict, or other religious 6* 106 MYSTICISM, fulminatioii. It has not and does not interfere in politics, nor seek political power in any shape. Like its brothers of old under Pythagoras in Magna Grfficia, it teaches philosophy, and is well calculated to pro- mote such education as must form true statesmen. So catholic is its every teaching, and sucli are its fraternal tendencies, that one church has placed it under ban. Throughout the world, whether among the descend- ants of the ancient Magi, the Hebrew Gabbalist, the Rosicrucian, or Templar, in the deserts of Africa, the forests of America, or on the wide-spread ocean, the symbols of recognition are known and received. Such have been its tendencies that spurious imitations for mere political purposes have been frequent. The lUuminati, the Carbonari, and other secret political societies have been supposed to be Masonic lodges. But it is a great mistake. The Kabbalists never interfered with, or acted in opposition to the Hebrew Theocracy. Their brothers of a later date have never interfered with politics, even to the present day ; nor have they, in any wise, inculcated a single maxim at variance with their duty to God, their neighbor, or themselves. They have simply preserved and obeyed the original traditional instruction handed down to them. Another benevolent secret society has sprung up, chiefly in the United States, calling themselves the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. This is a char- itable confraternity, intended, mainly, to promote AND ITS RESULTS. 107 benevolence, aid tlie sick and distressed, and cultivate the -srarmer sympathies of our nature. It is of mod- ern origin, and in most things seems to be an imita- tion of Free-Masonry. It has been productive of great good in the accomplishment of its benevolent purposes. Having no leaning whatever toward poli- tics, it quietly pursues its mission of love. Thus, then, we have arrived at a point where we must pause. The summary of the past seems to be as follows : — I. Prom the earliest history of the world there seems to have been an effort on the part of those who pretended to control the consciences and religious views of others to preserve in their own hands, the predominant political power. 1. The first government recorded is that of Nim- rod. He discarded patriarchal instruction ; united tribes in cities ; and formed their combination into an empire. The Magi controlled him, and, at his death, under the pretence of his deification, preserved his power in the priesthood. 2. In the extension of the Magi, every great leader, or king, was one of them ; and obedient to the rules and instructions of their general, the Hierophant. 3. When, in the assertion of popular right, Pytha- goras was driven away by Cylon, the then imperfect effort of self-government fell through. But little understood, its then dim light faded. 4. The society of the Kabbalistm, part of whom 108 MYSTIGJS5I, were afterward known as the Pythagorean league, as the CoUeg-io fabrorum of Numa Pompilius, as the Liberi Architectonici of the middle ages, and as the Free-Masons of the present day ; this society, I re- peat, never interfered in politics. 5. The Christian church was tempted to forget, that Christ's kingdom was not of this world. And its two great branches, that of Eome and England, were seduced into the error of seeking to obtain power through public policy. Eome exerted her influences through her praetorian cohorts, the confraternities of mendicants and of Jesus — the Jesuits. Unknown, and in silence, they were domiciliated in courts and in families, through- out all nations ; and some roamed as itinerants. The will of their general, on their unconditional subser- viency to his behest, seemed to create an almost omnipresent power to be controlled by Eome alone. Has not the exercise of it been exemplified in tlie inquisition ? Was it not felt in the massacre of St. Bartholomew ? I will not stop to ask the power and control of a Madame Maintenon, or Du Barry : nor whose influences controlled them. Does not all his- tory portray their one effort ? But has not the Church of England endeavored to obtain temporal power, also, by interference in the afl'airs of this world, politically ? Shame ! shame ! ! If the priesthood are honest in giving an undivided allegiance to Him, whom they AND ITS RESULTS. 109 have taken an oath only to serve ; and yet, whose " kingdom is not of this world ;" how dare they vio- late that obligation ? "iVe sutor ultra crepidam,^^ &c. But we in the United States are not better than our neighbors. Man is the same everywhere, but for education. And this brings us to the great, practical lesson, to which end all that has thus far beep detailed has been directed. Americans ! no matter of what nation you came, consider this lesson. We have ignored and thrown aside the priestly fable of an anoiatment by a man conferring an hered- itary right to rule his brother man, by any family. This jus divinum return is an absurdity, practically discarded by those who assert it. What divine right has been granted either to Napoleon the Great, or to Napoleon the little ? Whence came it ? By whose hands ? How is it preserved ? Is not the same reli- gious power ready to crown a Bourbon one day, and, in spite of the hereditary jus divinum already granted, crown a Corsican (who has waded through blood to his throne) the next day ; over the very rights of the Bourbon, who relies on that jus divinum as his title ? A divine right (if any) is here granted to both — to the Bourbon, and to the Corsican. Can truth contradict itself? If there be a contradiction must there not be error somewhere ? 110 MYSTICISM, This jus divinum that began with the deification of Nimrod, is still perpetuated though in other hands. But we must look into this a little further. II. Although the Theocracy in the days of Moses was of temporary duration, and human power after- ward asserted a kingly right, was that divine right ever preserved ? If divine, it is immutable. Does history show this ? When Titus conquered Jerusalem, does not Jewish history tell us the voice was heard saying, " Let us go hence ?" III. History shows, among men, two classes who have governed others : — 1. Kings, emperors, and rulers. 2. Priests and clergy, controlling the superstitious feelings of mankind ; yes, even these kings, emperors, and rulers, by mysticism. IV. There have been throughout history two classes of secret societies. One always endeavoring to govern and control the masses politically, by religious mysteries, &c. The other endeavoring to persuade to the study of science and philosophy, and trying to wean men from the mere struggle of this world's power, to a prepara- tion for another world, into which we must be born spiritually, by human death, and as to which this oaj'th is only the school-house. And this class has nol; interfered in any manner with politics in any country. AND ITS RESULTS. Ill This bring us to the present condition of our own beloved country at this time. A secret society, also political, was formed here, known as the Know-Nothings. And its secrecy was about to destroy it, when that secrecy, under the power of the press, vanished into mist. But what was the origin thereof? And when, after gentlemen and statesmen controlled it, and expelled its rubbish, it assumed a powerful influence, and a new form, as an " American Party," what were the deep moving causes which led to its prominent posi- tion? Prom the days of Nimrod to the present day, all history shows an effort on the part of a few to con- trol temporal power, at the expense of the many. They have always acted on the superstitions of man to accomplish this end. But the American theory (esto perpetua) is, that all men are free and equal in their political rights, when their intellect is that of control, not of servi- tude ; and that the people are the source and fountain of political power. It cometh not from a priest. It is the voice of freemen speaking and acting through their agents, whom they select. This antagonism is now to be severely tested in coming history. What is the source of temporal power ? Rome, England, Prance, and other countries, say it is from " the church," meaning their own particular 112 MYSTICISM, designation of a religion. That it is a divine right communicated by priestly anointment, attended by public ceremonies, imposing in appearance, and " ad captandum" for the public eye. The American theory, going far beyond the bare and imperfect teaching of Pythagoras, boldly asserts what is believed to be the true and only origin of temporal power, the free will of a people exercised through agents of its own selection. For about eighty years past this first great experi- ment has been successful. But that success has in- duced the most insidious attacks of those who advo- cate the opposite policy. We must be watchful, or our liberties will be gone. The game they now play is new in history ; but, it is one easily comprehended. It has been well said that the price of liberty is eter- nal vigilance. But two centuries since this land was the home of the savage. The Caucasian intellect, however, has assumed its supremacy here ; and the Indian, incapa- ble of mental culture, is gradually, but surely passing, like other forms of animal existence, from the world. One of the highest efforts of the human mind, is the Constitution of the United States of America. The great principles of freemen governing themselves, as there enunciated, must and will necessarily be sAr tacked by the asserters of divine right in temporal government. If our experiment succeeds the powers of Europe must fall, or undergo an entire change. A.\U ITS IllCSULTS. 113 England's nobility must acknowledge, sooner or later, the equality of the commonalty and gentry with them- selves. Distinctions in Prance have already gone, except as to the assertion of the power of an emperor by virtue of a priestly coronation. The popular masses of Europe have only displayed their first, but, as yet, imperfect efibrts to assert their political rights. It is the reflex action of the great principle we have successfully, thus far, practised. And will not the powers who have conquered the masses then thus far, use every efl'ort to destroy this experiment of ours and perpetuate thereby their own existence ? If we continue to succeed, our lesson to the world is the death-knell of monarchy and im- perial power. Foreign powers and priestly powers are making this effort. And if we are doomed to fail, it will be by the disunion their emissaries here endeavor to produce. With us, again, is religious influence exerted. Servitude is recognised and prac- tised in the south. But the clergy of the north have commenced a fanatical crusade against it. We should guard well against these influences, foreign and do- mestic, now operating against us. As a part of the history of the times, it may be proper to give the rise and progress of the so-called order of " Know-Nothings." The plan of the organ- ization was conceived by a gentleman of the city of New York, who, in 1849, prepared and embodied into a system, a plan for uniting the American senti- 114 MTSTICISM, ment of the American people throughout the United States. It was meant as a combined resistance, on the part of the native American population, to foreign and papal influence in this country. The progress of the plan was so slow in its development, that at the end of two years, the number of members uniting in the organization did not exceed thirty. In 1852 the plan was examined by a few gentlemen connected with the Order of United Americans, another secret and American organization, but not directly political or partisan in its aims and objects. A society was formed, and forty-three merabers signed their names to it, and from that small beginning was formed a body of native Americans which, in a year or two after, exceeded, in the state of New York alone, two hundred thousand members. This state organization soon extended its ramifications all over the country, and is now known as the American party. It has held three national conventions, one in Philadelphia, one at New York, and one in Louisville, and is now no more of a secret party than either of the two great parties opposed to it : the national conventions having abolished all secret meetings, and the state conventions or councils having generally concurred in this abolition of all oaths and all forms of obliga- tion but those of personal honor and mutual good faith. The ban of secrecy had made it, doubtless, an object of suspicion. Its adversaries hurl at it these AND ITS RESULTS. 116 tmfortunate antecedents. But now all secrecy has been abolished, and the party claims to assert only, the great principle of an intelligent self-govern- ment. They recognise the secret and insidious in- fluences of the Jesuit, and deprecate it. They call attention to it, and to its increasing import- ance in this valley; but still, in the spirit of lib- erty, leave the Jesuit free to act as he pleases. They perceive that it is irreconcilable with freedom of thought and conscience to surrender, uncondition- ally, one's own views and thoughts to the will of any one man, whether he be at Rome or elsewhere. Still he is not interfered with. Let him act with all free- dom. You can vote for him for ofBce or not, as you please ; and, here, we have reason to fear the secret influence controlled alone at Rome. But, with all this freedom, it is called " persecution" to say " I will not vote for such a man." Let Europe send over all her emissaries, and our country tells them you shall have the protection of our flag. You shall think, and speak what you will, if it be not to the injury of your neighbor. But is there not a spirit of self-preservation which demands that eternal vigilance which is the price of freedom ? Is it " proscription" in saying to another man, " I will not vote for you ?" If you can not exercise your own will, where is your freedom ? If a whig refuses to vote for a democrat is that " proscription 1" Then, if I believe another man has surrendered his 116 MYSTICIS:.!, own will to the unconditional control of another, in a foreign country, can I trust him — regarding the antecedents hereinbefore referred to ? It has been said, perhaps unjustly (at least I hope so), that the teaching of this important society, the Jesuit, so deeply-rooted here, is, that " the end jus- tifies the means." If this be so, and if they can exercise over the immigrant population from Europe the power imputed to them — all this also controlled at Rome by the general of the order and his monitor — where can freedom be preserved to us, if they can control a majority of votes here ? In such case our liberties are gone. In such case, they have simply adopted and ingeniously carried out the ancient pow- ers of the priestly Magi. Has not an Englishman, a member of parliament, come to this country, and lectured in New England on the abolition of slavery, expressly to aid in cre- ating disunion of our states ? Has not the leaven of Puritanism been excited to new action to accomplish the same result ? Have not three thousand clergymen been induced to interfere in our temporal and political affairs ; just as in past history we find the Magi and the priests did? Has not the word of God been set at naught ? Where the command is, " Thou shalt not kill," are not Sharpe's rifles purchased by their command ? A clever book of fiction, written by a fanatical old AND ITS RESULTS. 117 ■woman, although untrue even as a picture of southern society, has obtained for her the cordial entree of British aristocracy. Then, again, regard the immense immigration from Europe. No sooner is it possible, but we find poli- ticians busy to influence them, and obtain their votes. And they chiefly are opposed to slavery. As patriots, Americans should say, you may vote. "We throw around you no restraint. Tour home is our home. You are in every sense a brother, and you shall be deprived of no privilege. But while in no manner the privileges of a freeman should bo denied to any, we must not shut our eyes to the in- fluences that surround us. The Magi controlled the then known world. The Roman church has done the same. In Eng- land a church has assumed secular power. In each instance it was the fabulous jus divinum by which it was accomplished. Shall they be allowed by such influences to control and so break down our great experiment of self- government ? Rather let those peaceful and benevolent influences prevail, which were inculcated by societies who taught equality of rights, and peace and charity among men. This bring us then to the great motive power which alone can save our country. It is the ediiculion of the people, and the freedom of the press, dir. cted through a vnif.ij of language. 118 MYSTICISM, Through these, if properly conducted, unless they be controlled by the hostile influences hereinbefore spoken of, we shall be a happy and united nation. There is no need, hereafter, of any secret teaching. Secret societies may promote social good, but they are no longer necessary to teach either traditional philosophy, or promote public welfai'e, except by benevolence. Our duty is to encourage thought, foster public schools, create a unity of feeling and ideas, by means of a unity of language, and a freedom of the press. But, in doing so, from the history of the past, can we be too careful in guarding against the insidious influences of societies, whose antecedents in history have proved so dangerous ? Societies having for their object a religious influ- ence, and, thereby intending to control political power, are dangerous. The past has shown it. Societies of benevolence, like the Free-Masons and Odd-Fellows, have done much good ; but each mem- ber therein votes, in political matters, as he pleases, and without control. These societies do good to all, without view to any particular faith. Each person that binds himself, by an obligation, to serve only Him, whose " kingdom is not of this world," should be debarred thereby from interfering in the politics of this world, which he has thus for- sworn. But what are the facts ? Do not even the clergy AND ITS RESULTS. 119 of New England try to control our government ? Are they not even endeavoring to create disunion ? Is this not with the desire and empressement of foreign power ? How far may not the praetorian bands of Rome aid therein to carry out the result ? Can we be too guarded as to our great experiment ? The first practical result, then, indicated by past history, is, that political power, in monarchies, em- pires, &c., has been under the control of mere priestly mysteries. The next is, that human nature is always the same, and will endeavor to accomplish the same result. Take the history of the past, what are we to antici- pate for the future ? Can we judge but from the past ? Have they not endeavored to govern Europe ? We can only allow the will of freemen to govern us. The will that has, on oath, submitted itself to the control of a foreign power, is not that of a free man, and our duty is to watch it. Let, then, every secret become a mystery ; or, a revealed secret. K it be good to one, let it be good to all. Secure equality of rights. Collision of mind strikes out the sparks of truth. Secure universal education by free schools, ensuring unity of language, but leaving thought free ; and the result will be, that secrecy will have become a mystery, or revealed knowledge to all. Education, and the freedom of the press, are the 120 MYSTICISM, AND ITS RESULTS. true safeguards ^f a republic. Interfere with the exercise of no religion; but let no one system of faith control your goTernment. Frown down every effort of priests or clergy to meddle with politics. Then shall we avoid the errors of the past, preserve our present union, and hope for the spread of the true principles of liberty. With education will be united true piety, each assisting the other, no matter what the peculiar system of faith. Do away with secrecy altogether, and let every blessing that knowledge can confer, be devoted to public information, and the good of all. So, shall the abuses of secrecy be done away with for ever — and it shine forth only in the holy sphere to which it should be confined, to mod- esty and domestic virtue, religious meditation and prayer, and prudence in the transactions of life. THE END.