Mystic masonry, or, The symbols of freemasonry and the greater ...

:
74 Mystic Masonry.
mens, and those who have not been admitted or initiated,
go forth."
Archelaus, Bishop of Cascara in Mesopotamia,
who, in the year 278, conducted a controversy with
the Manichseans, said:
"These mysteries the church now communicates
to him who has passed through the introductory degree.
These are not explained to the Gentiles at
all; nor are they taught in the hearing of Catechumens,
but much that is spoken is in disguised
terms, that the Faithful, who possess the knowledge,
may be still more informed, and those who are not
acquainted with it may suffer no disadvantage."
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, was born in the year
316 and died in 386. In his Catechesis he says:
"The Lord spake in parables to his hearers in
general ; but to his disciples he explained in private
the parables and allegories which he spoke in public."
. . "Just so the church discovers its mysteries
to those who have advenced beyond the class
of Catechumens: we employ obscure terms with
others."
St. Basil, the great Bishop of Csesarea, born in the
year 326, and dying in the year 376, says
"We receive the dogmas transmitted to us by
writing, and those which have descended to us from