The Ancient Mysteries.

THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES .

BT MASONIC STUDENT . ( Continued from page 69 . ) THE dogma of the immortality of the soul is strictly connected with that of providence . Since there is a just God , who punishes and rewards ; since

he has stamped his image on our hearts aud given its those ideas of perfection to which we are continually approaching , he could not will that our expectation should be deceived , and he has therefore reserved us for the noblest purposes . This consolatory opinion opens to the sage an asylum , whence , like those who from au elevated station enjoy the prospect of the sea in a storm , he considers in tranquility the tumultuous agitations of mortalsuncertain of their fate ;

, while he , persuaded as he is that he shall receive the reward of his labours , with unwearied ardour devotes himself to the investigation of truth . The desire he has for immortality is , in his mind , the strongest assurance that he will obtain it . And indeed , if Nature herself had not engraven it on his heart , whence could be derived that anticipation of future ages , that love of glory which he extends beyond the limits of the tomb ? Are not his thoughts bent on

futurity ? Is it uot for posterity that he consumes himself with watching ; that he devotes himself to meditation , and foregoes the enjoyment of his clearest pleasures ? He plants trees that are not to bear fruit till long after his death ; but he knows that one clay , when his grand-children shall come and repose beneath their shade , he shall hear and enjoy the benedictions bestowed on his memory . Yes , without a doubt , the soul survives the body . Let us believe the internal sense which proclaims to us this truth , rather than all the vain arguments that have been urged against it . And even though it

should not rest on an indubitable foundation , why endeavour to destroy its probability ? Wh y choke the precious germs of those virtues it gives birth to P 'Twas this that conducted three hundred Spartans to the defiles at Thermopylae to serve as a barrier against innumerable armies ; that sent Epaminodas to bury himself in the plains of Mantinea ; it is this that , by promising to the warrior a crown of immortality , teaches him to prefer to the sweets of repose the honour of perishing for his country . * It alone inspires the

courage , still more heroic of resisting oppression . How noble is the spectacle of Socrates , unjustly condemned , disdaining to have recourse to supplication , occupying the whole day of his death in consoling his friends , aud while he holds in his hands the poisoned cup , inculcating upon them those sublime princip les of the truth of which his reason , improved by long experience , had iven him the most perfect conviction . Thus thought Catothat virtuous

g , Roman , whose inflexible soul never could be induced to bend the knee to tyranny , and who , after having supported to the last struggle the cause of liberty , regarded the moment of its extinction as that which providence pointed out to him for quitting the post he had been destined to guard . Ear be the maxims of those men from us , who maintain that everything ends with this state of existence , and that when we cease to live we cease to be .

Dreadful idea ! fit only to overwhelm us with despair , and which , far from arming us against the fear of death , only makes its approach the more hideous . Ah ! if it be given to man to taste the uiimingled pleasure of satisfaction with his own conduct , if he can depart from life as a satisfied guest rises from a ban-