History Of The Secret Principle.

t oken that as the body was thus cleansed from all impurities , so they should come Avith minds pure and undefiled . After this , certain of the mysteries were read to them out of a book , Avhen the priest proposed to each candidate certain questions , to

which they Avere required to make answers , and secrecy Avas enjoined under the highest penalties and sanctions . Then folloAved a scenic exhibition

of various spectacles calculated to awaken the strongest emotions in the beholder . Funeral forms passed by , personifying death , and the ills that flesh is heir to . Then followed other scenes , representing the gloom and horrors of

Tartarusthe dreary abode of the guilty—accompanied by awful groans , amid Avhich might be heard the exhortation , " Learn by our experience to reverence the gods—to be just and grateful . " Accompanying these Avere sudden flashes of fire

and the low rumbling as of distant thunderrendered more terrific by the hideous phantoms and spectres that met their eyes on every side . To these succeeded still other scenes , representing the delightful abodes in the Elysian fields ,

illuminated by a serene and glorious light , from whence harmonious voices uttered the most enchanting sounds . Indeed , it Avas a general characteristic of all the Cabman mysteries that they began in SOITOAV and ended in joy . Persons who had thus been introduced into these

mysteries were called the initiated , and the mode of initiation was called regeneration , or a new birth . What were the things made knoAvn to the candidate which he AA ^ as not at liberty to reveal , it is impossible to tell . There is , however , much

reason to believe , that tho eternity and unity of the Godhead , his poAver in the creation , and the falsehood of polytheism were among the things thus taught . It is certain that a state of future rewards and punishments was most

clearly set forth , and that many other things , in direct opposition to the prevailing vices of the age were inculcated and taught ; and , at one time at least , the operations of nature and the origin of the arts Avere among the topics of

consideration . The initiated into these mysteries were believed to live in a state of greater happiness and security than other men , and to be under the more immediate care of the gods—to enjoy

distinguished places in the Elysian fields—to enjoy a purer light , and to live more emphatically in the bosom of the Deity . Hence the Greeks came from

all parts to be initiated into these mysteries , and to receive this pledge of happiness . Pythagoras , to Avhom belongs the honour of commencing a new era in the philosophy of the ancient world , availed himself of this feature of

the ancient religion to instruct his disciples more thoroughly in the truths of religion and philosophy . Or , perhaps , Pythagoreanism is only a more full account of some parts of Eleusinianism . What was the precise mode of initiation into the

mysteries of Pythagoreanism , Ave cannot tell . We only know that it Avas preceded by a state of preparation—that it was accompanied by the strictest obligations of secrecy—that the members had particular words and signs by which to recognise

each other , which they were neither permitted to write nor reveal , and that all the secrets of the Order were handed down by memory . The instructions of Pythagoras were

twofoldexoteric or public , and esoteric or private . These last weie never communicated to any but the initiated—to those Avho , having gone through with the previous training of a disciple , had arrived at the degree of companion , brother , friend . And

even to these the secret instructions of his philosophy Avere imparted only under the form of symbols aud images , after the Egyptian mode of sacred instruction . And this Pythagoras probably borrowed from the Egyptian priests , with whom

he spent several years before establishing his system of philosophy . The business of the Pythagorean schools seems to have been principally the study of the arts and sciences ; but there is sufficient evidence that they commenced and closed

every day with religious duties . Something of the nature of those duties may be inferred from the following lines , Avhich are a free translation of the " Golden Verses" of Pythagoras : —

" Let not soft slumber close thine eyes , Before tbou recollectest thrice Thy train of actions through the clay ; Where have my feet found out their way ? What have I learn'd—where'er I ' ve been—From all I've heard—from all I've seen ?

What know I more that ' s worth the knowing ?• What have I sought that I should shun ? What duty have I left undone ? Or into Avhat new follies run ? These self-inquiries are the road That leads to virtue and to God . "

Another system of mysteries , different in name > . and probably in many of its ceremonies , is also deserving of notice in this place . I refer to the ancient Druids of Gaul and Britain , and the mys-