The History of Initiation - The Masonic Trowel

IS
HISTORY OF INITIATION.
53
death and eternity j to all comprehend the hidden mys-
54
teries of nature to have their soul restored to the
;
state of perfection from which it had fallen, and at their
death to be elevated to the supernal mansions of the
gods. 55
They were believed also to convey much temporal
felicity, and to afford absolute security amidst the
most imminent dangers by land or water. 50 On the other
hand a public odium was studiously cast on those who
refused the rites. 57
They were considered as profane
wretches, unworthy of public employment or private
confidence; 58 sometimes proscribed as obdurate atheists, 59
and finally condemned to everlasting punishment. And60 to heighten the impression, the despisers of the Mysteries
were considered marked men. They were exhibited in
the dramatic machinery of initiation as enduring the
pains of Tartarus a doom which was pronounced to be
everlasting. These motives were strengthened by that
undefined principle of curiosity, which is always excited
by a system in which secrecy forms a prominent feature ;
for the human mind, reaching forward to extended infor-
mation, seeks for it in those institutions where it is supposed
to be preserved; and the knowledge which is
enveloped in mystery is frequently courted with greater
eagerness than that which is open to public inspection.
We do not esteem the sciences or languages which we
know equally with others of which we are ignorant ; and
those are always deemed the most abstruse, of which we
possess the least degree of information. From the prevalence
of this general feeling it was that such a high
degree of public curiosity attached to the Mysteries.
They professed to be a short and certain step to universal
knowledge, and to elevate the soul to absolute perfection ;
but the means were shrouded under the impenetrable veil
63 5t
Isoc. Paneg.
Clem. Alex. Strom. 5.
55
Plat. Phasd. The evidences of this fact are numerous and weighty ;
and serve to prove that a future state of rewards and punishments
formed a prominent doctrine in the Mysteries.
56 Schol. in Aristoph. Iren., v. 275. Thus the Argonauts are fabled
to have been initiated at Samothrace, to procure an auspicious voyage.
(Apollon. Rhod. Argon.) The faith in such protection, however,
was suspended on the possession of amulets which were delivered to
the candidates at their initiation.
57 Warb. Div. Leg., vol. i., p. 140.
58
Plat. Phsed.
69 G0
Lucian. Demon.
Orig. cont. Cels., 1. viii.