THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

Baccharum es;" i.e., "Give the sign if you are one of these Bacchae,"
or
initiates into the Mysteries of Bacchus. Clemens Alexandrinus calls
these
modes of recognition [Greek: sothemata], as if _means of safety_.
Apuleius
elsewhere uses _memoracula_, I think to denote passwords, when he says,
"sanctissime sacrorum signa et memoracula custodire," which I am
inclined
to translate, "most scrupulously to preserve the signs and passwords of
the sacred rites."
[31] The Baron de Sainte Croix gives this brief view of the ceremonies:
"Dans ces mysteres on employoit, pour remplir l'ame des assistans d'une
sainte horreur, les memes moyens qu'a Eleusis. L'apparition de fantomes
et
de divers objets propres a effrayer, sembloit disposer les esprits a la
credulite. Ils en avoient sans doute besoin, pour ajouter foi a toutes
les
explications des mystagogues: elles rouloient sur le massacre de
Bacchus
par les Titans," &c.--_Recherches sur les Mysteres du Paganisme_, tom.
ii.
sect. vii. art. iii. p. 89.
[32] Lawrie, Hist. of Freemasonry, p. 27.
[33] Vincentius Lirinensis or Vincent of Lirens, who lived in the fifth
century of the Christian era, wrote a controversial treatise entitled
"Commonitorium," remarkable for the blind veneration which it pays to
the
voice of tradition. The rule which he there lays down, and which is
cited
in the text, may be considered, in a modified application, as an axiom
by
which we may test the _probability_, at least, of all sorts of
traditions.
None out of the pale of Vincent's church will go so far as he did in
making it the criterion of positive truth.
[34] Prolog. zu einer wissenshaftlich. Mythologie.
[35] In German _hutten_, in English _lodges_, whence the masonic term.
[36] Historical Essay on Architecture, ch. xxi.
[37] Bishop England, in his "Explanation of the Mass," says that in
every
ceremony we must look for three meanings: "the first, the literal,
natural, and, it may be said, the original meaning; the second, the
figurative or emblematic signification; and thirdly, the pious or
religious meaning: frequently the two last will be found the same;
sometimes all three will be found combined." Here lies the true
difference
between the symbolism of the church and that of Masonry. In the former,
the symbolic meaning was an afterthought applied to the original,
literal