History Of The Secret Principle.

tenes called Druidism . Much learning' and speculation have been expended upon the origin and meaning of the word Druid , but without much success . To me , hoAvever , it seems clearly to be the ancient Celtic drui , in the plural druidhe ,

denoting a druicl , an augur , and a charmer . It is , in fact , a word denoting the same thing as the Magi among the Eastern nations , that is , Avise man . This derivation agrees with the etymology ,, with the signification , and with the ancient usage

-of the word Druidism , which agreed in manv respects with the peculiarities of Eleusinianism , but in more respects with Pythagoreanism . It ¦ agreed with both in its secrets , its impressive mode of initiation after a preparatory course , and in many other things . It corresponded also with the mysteries of Eleusis in professing to confer

religious privileges ; but its most prominent characteristic was in accordance with Pythagoreanism , being , to all intents and purposes , a school of science and the arts . And like that , too , it taught a contemplative system of religions

philosophy , dealt in signs and symbols , and conveyed its learning by oral instruction . The Druidical seats of learning were located in the deep recess of some forest of oaks , where twelve years Avere required of one Avho wonld prepare

himself for any of the professions ; for among them as well as among us at the present clay , religion , law , medicine , poetry , history , etc ., were considered as distinct professions . These , however , formed the exoteric , or public branches of Druidical teaching , and give us no idea of the nature of their mysteries .

But m all of these ancient rites there were certain things in which they agreed . It was a leading characteristic of all that they began in sorrow and gloom and ended in light and joy ; that they were calculated to remind men of their weakness , their

ignorance , their helplessness , and their sinfulness of character ; of the shortness and the uncertainty of life , of the ills which flesh is heir to , of the ¦ punishment of guilt and the reward of virtue , and the rising of the just to life eternal and immortal .

-In all , too , the mode of initiation lvas calculated to ¦ make a deep and lasting impression upon the mind of the candidate . For this purpose , strikingexhibitions of the consequences of sin and the pleasures of virtue were presented in sudden

contrast ; and everything was designed to impress the beholder with a lively sense of what was thus represented . To these we may add some other

things , in Avincli all the mysteries aid , m effect , ao-ree , though onlv hinted at . or slightly alluded to in some , Avliile in others they Avere clearly and distinctly brought to light . And first among these Avas the doctrine of a new birth , or a wonderful

regeneration . What Avas signified by this has been the subject of much debate and dispute . Some have supposed that these rogeneratory sacrifices denoted a deep conviction pervading the Pagan Avorld , that man had fallen from his original

purity , and that they Avere symbolical of the new birth , which alone can fit us for heaven . But others suppose that they have no allusion to this Avhatever , but are corrupted copies of an original primitive religious ceremony , kept in commemoration of the preservation of Noah and his family in

the ark . In my own mind I have no doubt that both are partly right and partly wrong . That those mysteries were corrupted copies of a highly primitive rite , probably reaching back nearly to the time of

Noah and celebrating his deliverance from the flood , has been satisfactorily proved by learned men . Now Ave have the testimony of an apostle to the fact that the ark of Noah , in Avhich he was saved from the flood , was a symbol of that salvation which is

signified by Christian baptism . If then , the mysteries of the ancients were copies , however corrupted , of such an ancient and primitive rite , then they must also have had reference , at the beginning , to the spiritual birth signified in baptism , of which the salvation of Noah in the ark was also a sign and symbol .

I am very far , hoAvever , from supposing that this idea Avas retained in all the mysteries of the ancients . On the contrary , I do not find any evidence that it was often thought of . But still I must express my most thorough conviction that

there was enough retained in these symbols , even among the most corrupted , to lead the mind of a devout and reflecting man away from their outward meaning to their original and spiritual signification . The assistance which Ave receive from

this view of the subject , serves as a key to unlock the origin and meaning' of many of those ancient religious ceremonies , which otherwise must remain as mysterious to us as they did to the uninitiated of olden time . Even many of the ordinary

ceremonies among the religious rites of the Greeks and Romans unfold a higher and more exalted meaning than at first they appear to present , when viewed in the light of this explanation . And , here