Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

266 FRANCIS BA CON
guage and ceremonies, therefore Masonry is of extremest antiquity.
This same line of argument is adopted in many books which
seem to be of Freemasou extraction, aud iu some of the
modern anti-Christian works on Buddhism and " Theosophy.
These go farther still, maintaining not only the superior antiquity,
but the superior beauty and value of the religions of India
and Arabia, which, well suited as they doubtless were to the
rude or ignorant minds which they were to impress, can only be
regarded by Christians as gropings before daylight, or as the
altars erected by ignorant but well-meaning worshippers of the
unknown God.
In the ancient mysteries, all sorts of uncomfortable methods
were resorted to in order to test the nerves and constancy of the
initiate. He was made suddenly to see great lights which were
as suddenly eclipsed, leaving him plunged in total darkness.
Terrible sounds and sights were in succession forced upon him.
Thunder and lightning, visions of hideous monsters and horrible
objectswere designed to fill him with awe and consternation.
Finally he was restored to daylight, and to a delightful calm in
a lovely garden, where music and dancing revived his spirits,
and, perhaps, charmed him the more by reason of all the horrors
to which he had been subjected.
It seems to have been held as
a crime, punishable only by death, for
had seen in these mysteries, which for ages were kept secret.
a man to reveal what he
But, as with the somewhat similar ordeals which are said to be
imposed upon Masonic initiates, the secrets which now seem to
us foolish, and almost cruel, have leaked out by some means or
another.
In the present day such things appear to be anachronisms,
and profane rather than impressive. Nevertheless, they
would, doubtless, have an effect on weak nerves, and may possibly
aid in deterring the lower orders of initiates from revealing
these secrets, or others of greater importance.
In all cases initiation represents death, and a renaissance or
renovation, a new birth, not a resurrection from the dead. " In
the British mysteries, the noviciate passed the River of Death in
the boat of Garanhir, the Charon of antiquity (the boat typified