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440 ORIGIN, ANTIQUITY, AND
and consequently, through zeal and want of true information,
were unsparing in their invectives against the ancientMysteries.
As one proof, among many, of their want of requisite know-
ledge on these subjects, rinding that baptism was a religious
rite practised by certain heathen nations, they maintained that
the Spirit of Evil had taught them this ceremony in imitation
of the Christian form. And finding, also, that the Cross had
been a sacred
sign or symbol ages before Christianity, they did
not fail to impute this token to a similar origin.
It is well known that the Christians were, like the initiated
in the ancient Mysteries, long accused of committing the most
horrid crimes at their nocturnal meetings, under the veil of
awful secrecy. (See Mosheims Ecclesiastical Hist., and Lardners
Works, in 10 vols.) With regard to certain historical autho-
rities which may be brought against us, knowing,
as all
acquainted with history must know, that half that portion
which is supposed to be authentic is mingled with inven-
tion, as Quintillian, Herodotus, and Strabo have manifested
long ago, those authorities have as little weight with us, as the
ridiculous aspersions and base calumnies cast in every possible
on the sublime and
way, by the exoteric and the apostate,
sacred mysteries of modern Free-Masonry j
or the accusations
of infanticide and brutal pollution propagated against the early
Christians. But granting History all the authority which she
has a right to claim, we shall find that she has lifted up her
voice loudly in defence of the ancient Mysteries, and declared
them to have been sublime, religious, and undefiled.
What were some of the tenets of Pythagoras, who was
initiated into the ancient Mysteries ? To obtain a knowledge
of divine
things, by reflecting on death, by purifying the soul
of its imperfections, and the practice of virtue ; to endeavour
after the discovery of truth, and to imitate, as far as human
nature will allow, the perfections of God. He impressed on his
disciples the omnipresence of the Deity, the immortality of
the soul, and the necessity of personal holiness to prepare them
for a future state of happiness in heaven.
From whom did he learn these doctrines, which every good
Mason must revere ? Not from the prophet Ezekiel, as Cle-