The Ancient Mysteries.

served . The ceremonies might indeed vary according to circumstances , and especially according to the different genius of the people that performed them . They were cruel ancl sanguinary iu the East , where despotism made a jest of human sacrifices ; in the mild climate of Greece they tended only to make virtuous citizens , and in every country they were incorporated with the particular form of worship ; but the same divinity was always adoredancl that

, divinity was no other than universal Nature . Thus she proceeded . " Be just , ancl thou shalt be happy ; thou shalt live full of glory under my protection , ancl when thou arrivest at the end of thy course , death shall open to thee an entrance into the Elysian fields . But if , by an ardent zeal for my worship , ancl by the practice of virtue , thou shalt approve thyself worthy of favourknow that I have the power of prolonging th

my , y clays beyond the period assigned to thee by destiny . " The symbolic image of the fecundity of Nature was then exhibited ; an image that expressed the means by which she renews herself in the class of organized bodies , ancl which , having been at first chosen by simple ancl rude people , had continued in use after they were civilized ancl corrupted , because it had been originally consecrated to religious purposes . The Phallus was carried in great

pomp ; in the ceremonies of the women Kteis was made use of ; ancl in spite of the remonstrances of the fathers of the church , it would appear that this ceremony ' still continued to be respected . But it conveyed no impure idea to the imagination , for the initiated addressed this prayer to Nature : "Hail ! holy and unwearied benefactress of the human race ! thou who , like a tender mother , lavishest on mortals thy precious gifts , ancl who stretchest forth thy hands to assist the unhappy , all hail ! I invoke theethou powerful

, deity ; thee , whom the Gods of heaven adore , ancl whom the Gods of hell dread ; thee , who hast impressed motion on the celestial spheres ; who continucst to nourish the fires of the sun ; who governest the universe , and whose empire extends even to Tartarus . Thou speakest , ancl the stars make , answer , the gods rejoice , the seasons succeed each other , and the elements are obedient to thy voice . By thy orders the winds rage , aud the clouds are collected ; plants

germinate and issue from the bosom of the earth ; animals people the forests and mountains ; the serpent hides himself iu obscure retreats ; the inhabitants of air , the monsters of the ocean , the whole universe is subject to thy command . Who can worthily celebrate thy praises , 0 august divinity ! Engrossed with thy majesty , I shall incessantly behold thee , ancf contemple thy divine perfecfections . May thy sacred image never cease to dwell in the bottom of my heart . " *

Here the initiation ended , and the assembly was dismissed by a formula , borrowed from the Pheniciau koff . omphett ; which signified " watch ancl be pure . " Thus ended these mysteries , so justly renowned in ancient times , ancl which alone , as we may now be convinced , constituted , properly speaking , the essence of religion . They were instituted in great numbers , as each deity , besides the public worship which was addressed to him , had likewise a

particular and secret service . But after the mysteries of Isis in Egypt , which had served as a model for almost all the rest , the principal were those of the Cabiri in Samothracia , in which the ancient language of Orpheus was again found in the names given to the gods there invoked ; those of Cybele in Pbrygia ; of Venus in the island of Cyprus ; of Vulcan at Iiemnos ; of Jupiter in Crete ; of Mithras in Asia Minor , famous for the austerities and rigorous observances that were there exacted ; ancl lastly , those of Bacchus and of Ceres in Greece . But these last soon began to eclipse all the rest . According to Cicero , people came from all quarters to be initiated here . " Is there a single Greek , "